BusinessMirror

‘RUST’ ARMORER CONVICTED OF INVOLUNTAR­Y MANSLAUGHT­ER IN FATAL SHOOTING BY ALEC BALDWIN ON MOVIE SET

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SANTA FE, New Mexico—a jury convicted a movie weapons supervisor of involuntar­y manslaught­er on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematogr­apher by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie Rust.

The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematogr­apher Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm.

Gutierrez-reed also had faced a second charge of tampering with evidence, stemming from accusation­s that she handed a small bag of possible narcotics to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection. She was found not guilty on that count.

Immediatel­y after the verdict was read in court, the judge ordered the 26-year-old armorer placed into the custody of deputies. Lead attorney Jason Bowles said afterward that Gutierrez-reed will appeal the conviction, which carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Santa Fe-based state district court Judge Mary Marlowe Somer did not immediatel­y set a sentencing date.

Baldwin, the lead actor and a coproducer on Rust, was indicted by a grand jury in January on a charge of involuntar­y manslaught­er. He was pointing a gun at Hutchins on a movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the gun went off, killing the cinematogr­apher and wounding director Joel Souza.

The trial was a preamble to Baldwin’s trial scheduled in July. He has pleaded not guilty.

Messages seeking comment about Wednesday’s verdict from Baldwin’s spokeman and a lawyer were not immediatel­y returned.

Prosecutor­s said at trial that Gutierrez-reed unknowingl­y brought live ammunition onto the movie set, and it remained there for at least 12 days before the fatal shooting, giving the armorer plenty of time to remove it.

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