The family's attorney said the video's release has done 'irreparable' damage to the late cinematographer's husband and son.
Halyna Hutchins' family has a request for Sheriff Adan Mendoza. The same week that the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office released previously unseen footage, photos and interviews from the fatal Rust shooting, ET obtained an email via a source in which the family of the late cinematographer asks the sheriff's office to take down a video of the her death.
In the email, the family's attorney, Brian Panish, writes that, by releasing the materials, the sheriff's office "trampled on the constitutional rights" of Matt and Andros Hutchins -- the late cinematographer's husband and son. ET has reached out to the office for further comment.
Panish claims that 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 then changed their mind to give him "less than a business day to review the materials," which the attorney deems "wholly inadequate... given the sheer volume of material." It also, Panish writes, "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."
Panish alleges that "even this arrangement was violated when your office released the materials to the public before releasing the materials to Mr. Hutchins."
"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," Panish writes. "A greater respect for the Hutchins' constitutional rights would not have allowed the video footage to be released."
Panish goes on to list the "potential consequences" of having the video available publicly, including the fear that "this shocking footage of Andros' mother dying may be material used by bullies to emotionally abuse him in the future."
The damage of releasing the video, Panish alleges, is "irreparable."
"What is most troubling about the actions of your office in releasing all the files is that the action were not legally required," Panish writes. "... 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."
As such, Panish writes, he and his clients "demand that your office respect Matthew, Halyna, and Andros Hutchins' constitutional rights of dignity, privacy, respect, and fairness going forward."
"We also demand that your office take down the video footage of Halyna Hutchins dying on the church floor," he concludes. "While the damage of publishing that video is irreparable, taking down the video will end your office's complicity in causing further harm."
Prior to Panish's email, the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office told ET, "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."
As for Alec Baldwin, who that allegedly discharged the gun that killed Hutchins, his attorney, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, told ET that the actor "welcomes this investigation."
"The information that has been revealed by the authorities demonstrates, once again, that Mr. Baldwin acted responsibly and did not have control over any production issues that were identified in the OSHA report," he said. "Additionally, the interviews and affidavits disclosed today continue to corroborate Mr. Baldwin’s description of the events -- including an affidavit from the Detective stating that the cameraman, who was standing next to Ms. Hutchins and Mr. Souza at the time of the accident, confirmed that Mr. Baldwin was 'very careful' with guns on the set."
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