Halyna Hutchins’ family is calling out Sheriff Adan Mendoza and his team for releasing shocking footage of the cinematographer’s death amid the ongoing Rust investigation!
In a new email obtained by ET on Wednesday, the family’s lawyer Brian Panish requested that the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office remove sensitive footage involving the late filmmaker because the office “trampled on the constitutional rights” of Matt and Andros Hutchins, Halyna’s husband and son, respectively, by releasing the footage — allegedly without their permission.
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The legal doc claims the sheriff’s office had previously “promised to allow Mr. Hutchins to review the materials being publicly released in advance of their dissemination to the press,” but that the officers changed their minds at the last minute. While Matt was given the contents to review, he was granted “less than a business day to review the materials,” the lawyer argued:
“Wholly inadequate… given the sheer volume of material.”
Because of this, Panish is arguing that authorities “failed to give the Hutchins the ‘dignity and privacy’ the New Mexico constitution affords them including the right to request that discretion be exercised, and sensitive material be redacted.” He also alleges that the department didn’t hold true to its word, continuing:
“Even this arrangement was violated when your office released the materials to the public before releasing the materials to Mr. Hutchins.”
Shockingly, the first time the grieving husband saw the footage of his wife’s death on the set of the western (a portion of which can be seen above), it was published on “an internet website,” Panish stated:
“The first time Mr. Hutchins saw the disturbing and unsettling video footage of his dying wife lying on the church floor was on… an internet website. A greater respect for the Hutchins’ constitutional rights would not have allowed the video footage to be released.”
Yeesh. That’s a terrible way to come across that harrowing footage. As Perezcious readers know, the 42-year-old was killed on set after Alec Baldwin‘s prop gun was unknowingly loaded with a live round. The entire situation has been emotional and traumatic for all involved, but now Panish worries there could be “potential consequences” of having the shocking video so readily available online, especially for Halyna’s poor son, suggesting:
“This shocking footage of Andros’ mother dying may be material used by bullies to emotionally abuse him in the future.”
That would be so, so terrible.
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The lawyer seemed especially disturbed because the videos were never “legally required” to be released in the first place, arguing:
“What is most troubling about the actions of your office in releasing all the files is that the action were not legally required. … What is more, your office has the power to redact ‘protected personal identifier information contained in public records,’ but inexplicably decided not to… Even worse, it appears your office violated New Mexico’s IPRA law… [by making] all such records available via your Dropbox account.”
If that’s true, if the office really didn’t need to release the footage… why did thy?? Before getting ahold of Panish’s email, ET contacted the Sante Fe Sheriff’s Office about the release of the material, and they explained:
“The release of existing records related to the Rust shooting incident was based on public records requests to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.”
Ah. It makes sense they would get a lot of requests in such a high profile case. But that doesn’t mean what was released couldn’t have been redacted.
While the family knows the damage from this release is “irreparable,” they are still asking for the office to remove the contents, writing:
“[We] demand that your office respect Matthew, Halyna, and Andros Hutchins’ constitutional rights of dignity, privacy, respect, and fairness going forward.”
They also had a very specific request, noting:
“We also demand that your office take down the video footage of Halyna Hutchins dying on the church floor. While the damage of publishing that video is irreparable, taking down the video will end your office’s complicity in causing further harm.”
We feel for the Hutchins, who will have to deal with that heartbreaking video for the rest of their lives, on top of the immense grief of losing a loved one in such a horrific way. This only makes that shocking loss worse.
Thoughts, Perezcious readers?
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Lu Chau & Today/YouTube]
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