Entertainment
'Rust' shooting prosecutor asks judge to reopen Alec Baldwin manslaughter case
Defending the state’s handling of the “Rust” shooting case, New Mexico special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey has asked the judge to take another look at the circumstances that prompted the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter charge.
In a court filing Friday, Morrissey asked New Mexico First Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to reconsider her decision to throw out Baldwin’s manslaughter case.
Six weeks ago, Marlowe Sommer dramatically ended Baldwin’s criminal trial after potential new evidence came to light. A former police officer who lives in Arizona had months earlier delivered nearly two dozen .45-caliber rounds to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department, saying they might have been related to the “Rust” shooting 2½ years earlier that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The former officer, Troy Teske, is a friend of Thell Reed, a noted Hollywood armorer and father of “Rust” weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March in the shooting. Teske was scheduled to be a witness in her trial but Gutierrez’s defense attorney decided not to call Teske to testify.
After the Gutierrez trial and before leaving Santa Fe, Teske turned over the ammunition he had brought to New Mexico to local sheriff’s deputies. The casings of three of the rounds appeared to match the fatal bullet in the “Rust” movie set shooting, deputies later testified.
During Baldwin’s trial, the Santa Fe County sheriff’s crime scene technician testified that she took the rounds from Teske and placed them into evidence storage. However, the rounds were not included as part of the “Rust” shooting evidence, later testimony showed.
Instead the ammunition was filed under a different case number — a fact that Baldwin’s attorneys pounced on as evidence that the state was allegedly hiding material that might have been helpful to Baldwin’s defense.
The judge agreed and dismissed the criminal charge.
In her 52-page motion, Morrissey argued that defense attorneys knew more about the Teske rounds than she did. She wrote the situation surrounding the rounds did not rise to a level that warranted Marlowe Sommer’s dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning it could not be refiled.
Morrissey asserted that the tardy disclosure of the Teske rounds did not hamper Baldwin’s defense because his attorneys apparently knew about the ammunition before the trial. Morrissey also argued the rounds were unrelated to the charges that Baldwin faced.
“It never occurred to the State that the Teske rounds were relevant to the case against Mr. Baldwin and they are not,” Morrissey wrote.
A Baldwin representative was not immediately available for comment.
Morrissey wrote that the state, which had just two attorneys on the Baldwin case, lacked the resources of the actor’s team, which included at least nine lawyers. She asked the judge to ask Baldwin’s lawyers to disclose when they learned of the Teske rounds — presumably to show that it was well before Baldwin’s trial that began with jury selection on July 9.
Morrissey also wrote in her motion that the crime scene technician, Marissa Poppell, was not trying to mislead the judge when she testified that the Teske rounds were dissimilar to the ones uncovered on the “Rust” movie set in October 2021.
“She provided mistaken and inaccurate testimony because people occasionally make mistakes,” Morrissey wrote.
In July, the judge grew visibly angry when she saw that three of the rounds did appear to match the live ammunition found on the “Rust” set.
Morrissey said the judge should have considered less severe remedies, such as declaring a mistrial to give Baldwin’s team the opportunity to inspect the rounds and have them tested by the FBI.
The judge has scheduled a hearing later this month to consider a separate motion filed by Gutierrez’s attorney to throw out her conviction or grant a new trial.
Entertainment
Kate Middleton's cancer is now in remission: 'It takes time to adjust to a new normal'
After battling cancer most of last year, Kate Middleton says she’s now in remission.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, who confirmed last March that she had cancer after months of speculation about her health and well-being, said Tuesday that she is focused on recovery.
“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain [focused] on recovery,” she said in a statement posted on social media. “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal. I am however looking forward to a fulfilling year ahead. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.”
Catherine, Princess of Wales, and husband Prince William, who is first in line to the British throne, on Tuesday were named joint patrons of the Royal Marsden — the cancer hospital where Catherine received treatment last year. Since 2007, William has been president of the Royal Marsden, a position that was held previously by his mother, the late Princess Diana.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to The Royal Marsden for looking after me so well during the past year,” Catherine said in her statement. “My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything. We couldn’t have asked for more. The care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional.”
In her new role, the 43-year-old princess said she hopes to save more lives and transform the experience of all those affected by cancer by supporting groundbreaking research and clinical excellence, as well as promoting patient and family well-being.
Catherine’s health issues and the royal missteps that followed became a global topic of discussion early last year when Kensington Palace announced that she had to take a break from royal duties after having “major abdominal surgery” in January. Rampant speculation ran amok about the princess’ retreat from the public eye, fueling months of broad concern about her condition and whereabouts.
In March, she made the cancer announcement in a poignant video message that came in the wake of reports that her medical records at the London Clinic were allegedly breached by hospital staffers. She began treatment in late February and announced in September that she had completed it, confirming that she would soon return to light public duties.
The announcement of Catherine’s patronage was made Tuesday during her visit to the Royal Marsden’s hospital in Chelsea. There, the mother of three met with patients being treated with chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
“We were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales to The Royal Marsden in Chelsea this morning, and are delighted that Her Royal Highness is now joining His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in becoming Joint Patrons of our specialist cancer centre,” said Cally Palmer, chief executive of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
Palmer said William has been “a wonderful supporter of our work for nearly two decades” and that his and Catherine’s royal patronage is inspiring for staff and patients and “enables us to shine a light on the outstanding work our staff deliver every day for patients and their families.”
During her Tuesday visit, Catherine disclosed some of the side effects she experienced after her cancer treatment, including speech issues and brain fog.
“You think treatment’s finished, crack on with that … daily tasks, but that’s still like a real challenge,” she told hospital staff, according to the Daily Mail. “And talking … the words totally disappear … understanding that as a patient, yes, there are side effects around treatment, but actually there are more long-term side effects.”
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Teen Temptress, Femme Fatale, or Victim? “Nahir”
“Nahir,” a brooding, glamourized and sexed-up account of a notorious Argentine murder case, is a mystery thriller that aims for engrossing and immersive that never falls short of quite watchable along the way.
Screenwriter Sofia Wilhelmi and director Hernán Gu
erschuny take great pains — with flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks — to show us several versions of the title character’s account of what happened the fateful night in which she allegedly killed her allegedly abusive lover.
We’re treated to backstory which dissects the aloof and mysterious teen beauty who either planned a crime of lover’s revenge, carried it out and took some pains to cover up her involvement, or didn’t. Not in the ways the earliest versions of her account of that fateful night played out, anyway.
Valentina Zenera plays Nahir as a vain beauty confident in her allure, even at her (seen in a flashback) quinceañera. Nahir dreams of riding the premiere float at Gualeguaychú’s famed carnival parade and riding that to fame as a model.
Not that she says much of this out loud. Nahir is depicted as inscrutable, controlled and controlling. All the boys fancy her and no one gets more of her attention, and manipulation, than 20 year-old Federico (Simon Hempe).
Nahir says they’re broken up. Then they’re together. As the narrative jumps back and forth from “before the crime” (in Spanish with English subtitles) to “after the crime,” we see both their torrid affair — “torrid” at least in his eyes — and her “No, we weren’t dating” way of describing it to her friends and eventually to the cops.
Because one night, Federico rides his motorbike to his doom.
We see how Nahir takes the “news” of his death. “Poker-faced” barely does that reaction justice. We watch the early questioning, the tear she tries to summon up or fake with a tissue.
And we learn that Nahir’s adored and adoring Dad (César Bordón) is a pistol-packing police officer. If there’s one thing that’s become accepted wisdom the world over in recent years, it’s the idea that police in most any country all consider themselves experts in one thing — knowing what they can get away with, and how.
When Dad says “I’ll get you out of here…I’m working on it. You’ll be home by New Year’s,” Nahir believes it. Is it because of what she knows, or what she knows that he knows?
As we see Nahir’s (perhaps) ex-beauty queen mother (Mónica Antonópulos) primp and prep her for a pageant and for a TV prison interview, we pick up on the dynamic of the household and the narcissism of our heroine.
“No crying,” Mom insists before her interrogation. Or did she? Federico’s come-ons are punctuated with a macho “I get anything I want.” Dad wasn’t shy about showing his pistol to would-be stalkers who stare at Nahir in crowds. His icy “princesa” never betrays any emotion at any of this.
The court case reveals more than just the lovers’ exchanged “love of my life” texts. Protesters demand “justice” for Federico, but witnesses paint a more complicated picture of their on-and-off romance. And as her situation isn’t quickly resolved — one way or the other — and her “story” changes, we wonder what really happened.
I like the way the story’s jumps backwards and forwards in time to wrongfoot the viewer. We’re given just enough information to decide on guilt or innocence, and then new information is brought to light. Think again.
Now on Amazon Prime, “Nahir” was longer when it played in Argentina, and reviews of this “true” story there weren’t the best. Perhaps it’s tighter, as the Prime cut of the film is 14 minutes shorter. Or perhaps Argentines are more invested in the story and uninterested in the doubts “Nahir” suggests.
Zenere, underplaying in ways that hint at the character’s similarities to Amanda Knox — accused because she underreacts to news of a murder — makes her character believably guilty or possibly innocent. And whatever verdict, she ensures the narcissistic Nahir is never seen with a hair out of place or eye shadow and earrings that aren’t perfectly matched, even behind bars.
Rating: TV-16, violence, sex, profanity
Cast: Valentina Zenere, Simon Hempe, Mónica Antonópulos and César Bordón
Credits: Directed by Hernán Guerschuny, scripted by Sofia Wilhelmi. An MGM release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:48
Entertainment
Watch Duty, first responders and Steve Guttenberg: Jimmy Kimmel's ode to 'superheroes' of L.A. fires
Jimmy Kimmel is moved by community support and the commitment of first responders amid a dark period of L.A. history defined by devastating wildfires and immense loss.
Returning Monday to his late-night TV slot, Kimmel delivered an emotional opening monologue about the “very scary, very stressful, very strange week here in L.A.” Several fires broke out last week across Southern California, stoked by a “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm. The most devastating blazes, in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, continue to burn and have damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 structures and killed 24 people.
“It’s been terrible,” Kimmel said after reflecting on the fires, including the since-extinguished Sunset fire that threatened his studio in Hollywood. “Everyone who lives in this city knows someone, most of us multiple people — families, friends, colleagues, neighbors — whose houses burned down, and the truth is we don’t even know it’s over.”
The last week has been a “sickening, shocking, awful experience,” but Kimmel also said a bright spot has been the “beauty from seeing the community coming together to support each other.” After briefly chiding President-elect Donald Trump for railing against California politicians, Kimmel turned the spotlight onto first responders, including the inmate crews that have been battling the wildfires.
“We should never stop thanking them,” Kimmel said. In addition to local and out-of-state first responders, the Emmy-winning host also lauded police, the National Guard, local news reporters and the Watch Duty app.
“Real superheroes,” he added.
Kimmel’s opening segment also praised the Angelenos who have organized donation drives, businesses that have offered support to affected residents and “unexpected hero” Steve Guttenberg. Since last week, the “Police Academy” star has remained in his Palisades neighborhood to aid emergency efforts. Guttenberg told Kimmel his latest mission has included saving a dog and putting out small fires in the area.
Although the fires have brought devastation, Kimmel said, the last week has also been full of various lessons — including those on firefighting terminology and emergency responses.
“I feel like I’m an expert now,” he joked. “Before this happened, most of what I knew about fire safety came from watching ‘Paw Patrol.’”
The final minutes of Kimmel’s 15-minute monologue featured a super-cut of local coverage highlighting community efforts, including donation drives and free meal services.
On Monday, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” team announced its efforts to give back to people affected by the fires. The production has set up a donation center behind its Hollywood studio, at 6901 Hawthorn Ave. The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until Friday.
SoCal residents should remain vigilant this week as officials voiced concern that a new round of strong winds, paired with dry fuel and low humidity, could result in new fires starting or existing blazes expanding. An unprecedented fourth “particularly dangerous situation” fire weather warning took effect Tuesday morning and is expected to last through Wednesday, affecting swaths of Los Angeles County and surrounding counties.
“Life-threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already here,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said during a news conference Tuesday. “We are taking an aggressive, lean forward posture … strategically placing fire patrols and engines in the unimpacted high fire risk areas in the city. We are carefully managing our operations to ensure that we can quickly respond to any new fires.”
Times staff writers Rong-Gon Lin II, Hannah Fry and Grace Toohey contributed to this report.
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