New Mexico
Movie armorer seeks dismissal of her conviction or new trial in fatal shooting on set
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie armorer has asked a judge to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin, alleging suppression of evidence and misconduct by the prosecution.
In a court filing Tuesday, defense counsel for armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed argued her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer last week brought Baldwin’s trial to a sudden and stunning end based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”
“This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin’s case with prejudice,” said defense attorney Jason Bowles in the new court filing. “How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?”
Kari Morrissey — lead prosecutor in both the Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed cases — said her written response would be filed in court next week, declining further comment.
The case-ending evidence at Baldwin’s trial was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Judge Marlowe Sommer, who later assigned the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal pending in a higher court on the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
New York
Prosecutors say neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader plotted to give poison candy to Jewish kids in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — The leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group based in eastern Europe has been charged with plotting to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City to sow terror, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from the Republic of Georgia, was indicted on four charges, including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. It wasn’t known if he has an attorney.
Chkhikvishvili, who has various nicknames including Commander Butcher, allegedly leads the Maniac Murder Cult, which prosecutors said is an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’ “
The Maniac Murder Cult’s goal is to upset social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos, according to the announcement from Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York and Executive Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch.
Chkhikvishvili was arrested after he tried to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join his group and commit violent crimes such as bombings and arsons, according to court documents.
In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a “mass casualty event” for New York City on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said.
“The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” the Department of Justice statement said.
He “drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme” and shared with the undercover officer “detailed manuals on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases,” the statement said.
Prosecutors said since September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” in which he states that he has “murdered for the white race” and encourages others to do the same.
“For example, and among other things, the handbook encourages its readers to commit school shootings and to use children to perpetrate suicide bombings and other mass killings targeting racial minorities,” the Justice Department statement said. “The document describes methods and strategies for committing mass ‘terror attacks,’ including, for example, using vehicles to target ‘large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations and parades’ and ‘pedestrian congested streets.’ It specifically encourages committing attacks within the United States.”
Chkhikvishvili traveled to New York City at least twice in 2022 and stayed with his paternal grandmother in Brooklyn, officials said.
If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for solicitation of violent felonies, five years for conspiring to solicit violent felonies, 20 years for distributing information pertaining to the making and use of explosive devices and five years for transmitting threatening communication.
Washington
Ex-CIA official charged with being agent for South Korean intelligence
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA employee and senior official at the National Security Council has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence service, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Sue Mi Terry accepted luxury goods, including fancy handbags, and expensive dinners at sushi restaurants in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing nonpublic information with intelligence officers and facilitating access for South Korean officials to U.S. government officials, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan.
She also admitted to the FBI that she served as a source of information for South Korean intelligence, including by passing handwritten notes from an off-the-record June 2022 meeting that she participated in with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about U.S. government policy toward North Korea, the indictment says.
Prosecutors say South Korean intelligence officers also covertly paid her more than $37,000 for a public policy program that Terry controlled that was focused on Korean affairs.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, its main spy agency, said Wednesday that intelligence authorities in South Korea and the U.S. are closely communicating over the case. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry separately said it was not appropriate to comment on a case that is under judicial proceedings in a foreign country.
The conduct at issue occurred in the years after Terry left the U.S. government and worked at think tanks, where she became a prominent public policy voice on foreign affairs.
Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for Terry, said in a statement that the “allegations are unfounded and distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States.”
He said she had not held a security clearance for more than a decade and her views have been consistent.
“In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf,” he said. “Once the facts are made clear it will be evident the government made a significant mistake.”
Terry served in the government from 2001 to 2011, first as a CIA analyst and later as the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council, before working for think tanks, including the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prosecutors say Terry never registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.
On disclosure forms filed with the House of Representatives, where she testified at least three times between 2016 and 2022, she said that she was not an “active registrant” but also never disclosed her covert work with South Korea, preventing Congress from having “the opportunity to fairly evaluate Terry’s testimony in light of her longstanding efforts” for the government, the indictment says.
New York
Albert the alligator’s owner sues state agency in effort to be reunited with pet
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man whose 750-pound alligator was seized is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation in an effort to get him back, saying the agency was wrong not to renew a license for the pet he looked after for more than 30 years.
Conservation officers entered Tony Cavallaro’s home in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in March, sedated the 11-foot alligator named Albert, taped his mouth shut and drove off with him, saying Cavallaro’s license to keep the reptile expired in 2021 and hadn’t been renewed.
In his lawsuit filed with the state Supreme Court, Cavallaro says the agency’s denial of his license wasn’t “factually based,” his attorney, Peter Kooshoian, said Tuesday.
“We’re hoping that he will get his license to have the animal reinstated, and from there we’d like to either negotiate or litigate to have the animal brought back to Mr. Cavallaro because we feel that he should have had a valid license at the time, as he’d had for the last 30 years,” Kooshoian said.
The DEC does not comment on pending litigation, a spokesman said via email when asked for a response to the claims. It previously said Albert’s enclosure didn’t sufficiently ensure that he would not come into contact with people, and that the alligator was afflicted by “blindness in both eyes and spinal complications” — conditions Cavallaro disputes.
Officers’ seizure of the alligator, caught on video, and Cavallaro’s videos and photos of him petting and kissing Albert in the custom indoor pool he built led to an outpouring of support for the duo. “Bring Albert Home” signs still dot some neighborhood lawns and more than 4,500 followers keep up with Cavallaro’s efforts on Facebook.
“I’m hoping we get this thing resolved. That’s all I can do,” Cavallaro said of the decision to sue. “It’s overwhelming me. ... It’s ruined my whole year, destroyed it.”
Cavallaro bought the American alligator at an Ohio reptile show in 1990 when Albert was two months old. He considers him an emotional support animal and “gentle giant.”
The license became an issue following a change in regulations for possessing dangerous animals adopted by the DEC in 2020. After Cavallaro’s license expired in 2021, the agency said he failed to bring the holding area into compliance with the updated standards to ensure the alligator did not pose a danger to the public.
Cavallaro said the DEC failed to follow its own licensing requirements governing people who already owned a wild animal when the new regulations took effect.
Albert was taken to Gator Country, a Beaumont, Texas, rescue facility where visitors can interact with the alligators and other reptiles.
“You can interact with them in all different ways. It’s like a kick right in my teeth,” Cavallaro said.
Movie armorer seeks dismissal of her conviction or new trial in fatal shooting on set
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie armorer has asked a judge to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin, alleging suppression of evidence and misconduct by the prosecution.
In a court filing Tuesday, defense counsel for armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed argued her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer last week brought Baldwin’s trial to a sudden and stunning end based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”
“This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin’s case with prejudice,” said defense attorney Jason Bowles in the new court filing. “How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?”
Kari Morrissey — lead prosecutor in both the Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed cases — said her written response would be filed in court next week, declining further comment.
The case-ending evidence at Baldwin’s trial was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Judge Marlowe Sommer, who later assigned the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal pending in a higher court on the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
New York
Prosecutors say neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader plotted to give poison candy to Jewish kids in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — The leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group based in eastern Europe has been charged with plotting to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City to sow terror, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from the Republic of Georgia, was indicted on four charges, including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. It wasn’t known if he has an attorney.
Chkhikvishvili, who has various nicknames including Commander Butcher, allegedly leads the Maniac Murder Cult, which prosecutors said is an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’ “
The Maniac Murder Cult’s goal is to upset social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos, according to the announcement from Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York and Executive Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch.
Chkhikvishvili was arrested after he tried to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join his group and commit violent crimes such as bombings and arsons, according to court documents.
In November 2023, Chkhikvishvili began planning a “mass casualty event” for New York City on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said.
“The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” the Department of Justice statement said.
He “drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme” and shared with the undercover officer “detailed manuals on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases,” the statement said.
Prosecutors said since September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” in which he states that he has “murdered for the white race” and encourages others to do the same.
“For example, and among other things, the handbook encourages its readers to commit school shootings and to use children to perpetrate suicide bombings and other mass killings targeting racial minorities,” the Justice Department statement said. “The document describes methods and strategies for committing mass ‘terror attacks,’ including, for example, using vehicles to target ‘large outdoor festivals, conventions, celebrations and parades’ and ‘pedestrian congested streets.’ It specifically encourages committing attacks within the United States.”
Chkhikvishvili traveled to New York City at least twice in 2022 and stayed with his paternal grandmother in Brooklyn, officials said.
If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for solicitation of violent felonies, five years for conspiring to solicit violent felonies, 20 years for distributing information pertaining to the making and use of explosive devices and five years for transmitting threatening communication.
Washington
Ex-CIA official charged with being agent for South Korean intelligence
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA employee and senior official at the National Security Council has been charged with serving as a secret agent for South Korea’s intelligence service, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Sue Mi Terry accepted luxury goods, including fancy handbags, and expensive dinners at sushi restaurants in exchange for advocating South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing nonpublic information with intelligence officers and facilitating access for South Korean officials to U.S. government officials, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan.
She also admitted to the FBI that she served as a source of information for South Korean intelligence, including by passing handwritten notes from an off-the-record June 2022 meeting that she participated in with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about U.S. government policy toward North Korea, the indictment says.
Prosecutors say South Korean intelligence officers also covertly paid her more than $37,000 for a public policy program that Terry controlled that was focused on Korean affairs.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, its main spy agency, said Wednesday that intelligence authorities in South Korea and the U.S. are closely communicating over the case. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry separately said it was not appropriate to comment on a case that is under judicial proceedings in a foreign country.
The conduct at issue occurred in the years after Terry left the U.S. government and worked at think tanks, where she became a prominent public policy voice on foreign affairs.
Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for Terry, said in a statement that the “allegations are unfounded and distort the work of a scholar and news analyst known for her independence and years of service to the United States.”
He said she had not held a security clearance for more than a decade and her views have been consistent.
“In fact, she was a harsh critic of the South Korean government during times this indictment alleges that she was acting on its behalf,” he said. “Once the facts are made clear it will be evident the government made a significant mistake.”
Terry served in the government from 2001 to 2011, first as a CIA analyst and later as the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council, before working for think tanks, including the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prosecutors say Terry never registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.
On disclosure forms filed with the House of Representatives, where she testified at least three times between 2016 and 2022, she said that she was not an “active registrant” but also never disclosed her covert work with South Korea, preventing Congress from having “the opportunity to fairly evaluate Terry’s testimony in light of her longstanding efforts” for the government, the indictment says.
New York
Albert the alligator’s owner sues state agency in effort to be reunited with pet
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man whose 750-pound alligator was seized is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation in an effort to get him back, saying the agency was wrong not to renew a license for the pet he looked after for more than 30 years.
Conservation officers entered Tony Cavallaro’s home in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in March, sedated the 11-foot alligator named Albert, taped his mouth shut and drove off with him, saying Cavallaro’s license to keep the reptile expired in 2021 and hadn’t been renewed.
In his lawsuit filed with the state Supreme Court, Cavallaro says the agency’s denial of his license wasn’t “factually based,” his attorney, Peter Kooshoian, said Tuesday.
“We’re hoping that he will get his license to have the animal reinstated, and from there we’d like to either negotiate or litigate to have the animal brought back to Mr. Cavallaro because we feel that he should have had a valid license at the time, as he’d had for the last 30 years,” Kooshoian said.
The DEC does not comment on pending litigation, a spokesman said via email when asked for a response to the claims. It previously said Albert’s enclosure didn’t sufficiently ensure that he would not come into contact with people, and that the alligator was afflicted by “blindness in both eyes and spinal complications” — conditions Cavallaro disputes.
Officers’ seizure of the alligator, caught on video, and Cavallaro’s videos and photos of him petting and kissing Albert in the custom indoor pool he built led to an outpouring of support for the duo. “Bring Albert Home” signs still dot some neighborhood lawns and more than 4,500 followers keep up with Cavallaro’s efforts on Facebook.
“I’m hoping we get this thing resolved. That’s all I can do,” Cavallaro said of the decision to sue. “It’s overwhelming me. ... It’s ruined my whole year, destroyed it.”
Cavallaro bought the American alligator at an Ohio reptile show in 1990 when Albert was two months old. He considers him an emotional support animal and “gentle giant.”
The license became an issue following a change in regulations for possessing dangerous animals adopted by the DEC in 2020. After Cavallaro’s license expired in 2021, the agency said he failed to bring the holding area into compliance with the updated standards to ensure the alligator did not pose a danger to the public.
Cavallaro said the DEC failed to follow its own licensing requirements governing people who already owned a wild animal when the new regulations took effect.
Albert was taken to Gator Country, a Beaumont, Texas, rescue facility where visitors can interact with the alligators and other reptiles.
“You can interact with them in all different ways. It’s like a kick right in my teeth,” Cavallaro said.
