ARMORER GUILTY IN 'RUSTY KILL
Baldwin co-worker bungled bullets
“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie in 2021.
A New Mexico jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed, 26, after three hours of deliberation, finding she was ultimately responsible for the live rounds on set, one of which killed Hutchins when it was fired from a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.
Gutierrez-Reed was placed into the custody of deputies following the conviction, which her lawyers said she will appeal. She faces up to 18 months in prison.
The weapons supervisor’s parents were at court Wednesday, and Gutierrez-Reed’s mother buried her face in her hands as the verdict was delivered.
During the trial, prosecutors said the armorer repeatedly flouted gun-safety protocols that could have detected the live rounds she’s accused of unknowingly bringing onto the movie set at a ranch outside Santa Fe, NM.
“This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies,” prosecutor Kari Morrissey said during closing arguments.
“Hannah Gutierrez failed to maintain firearms safety, making a fatal accident willful and foreseeable,” said Morrissey.
Gutierrez-Reed faced a second charge, tampering with evidence, of which she was found not guilty.
The armorer’s lawyers had argued that she was being scapegoated over larger safety issues on the set, including Baldwin’s mishandling of weapons.
“It was not in the script for Mr. Baldwin to point the weapon,” defense attorney Jason Bowles told jurors.
“She didn’t know that Mr. Baldwin was going to do what he did,” said Bowles, adding that nobody working on “Rust” thought there were live rounds on set.
Baldwin, the movie’s star and co-producer, was indicted in January on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was pointing a gun at Hutchins on the movie set when the gun went off with a live bullet loaded in the chamber, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has maintained he never pulled the trigger, which contradicts the FBI’s finding that the revolver could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. His case is scheduled to go to trial in July.
Hutchins’ parents Olga Solovey and Anatolli Androsovych, and her sister, Svetlana Zemko, said in a statement through their attorney they are “satisfied” with Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction. “We look forward to the justice system continuing to make sure that everyone else who is responsible for Halyna’s death is required to face the legal consequences for their actions,” the family said.