Rust armourer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter
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The woman in charge of weapons on the set of an Alec Baldwin movie where a cinematographer was shot dead was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter.
A jury in New Mexico took just over two hours to find Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of the charge over the death of Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.
But she was found not guilty of evidence tampering.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was in charge of weapons during production of the film in New Mexico in October 2021, when a gun being used by star and co-producer Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, died following the incident, while director Joel Souza was injured.
Assistant director David Halls, who last year entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon, receiving a six-month suspended sentence, also gave evidence during the case.
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in the wake of evidence from dozens of witnesses, including eyewitnesses, FBI evidence analysts and an ammunition supplier to Rust, as well as Mr Souza.
Baldwin, the third person charged over the shooting, is due to go on trial in July after pleading not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The judge remanded Gutierrez-Reed in custody ahead of her sentencing, which is not expected before next month. She faces up to 18 months in prison.
Testimony in the trial had focused on whether the relatively inexperienced armourer endangered fellow crew and cast members in her handling and supervision of firearms on the low-budget production set in New Mexico.
Hutchins’ death was Hollywood’s first on-set fatal shooting in nearly 30 years.
On Oct 21, 2021, Gutierrez-Reed mistakenly loaded a live round into a reproduction Colt .45 revolver that Baldwin was using inside a movie-set church outside Santa Fe.
Baldwin cocked the gun, pointed it toward the camera and it fired one live bullet that killed cinematographer Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
“This case is about constant, never-ending safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another,” said New Mexico state special prosecutor Kari Morrissey in her closing statements earlier Wednesday.
Gutierrez-Reed was employed as both a part-time armourer and a props assistant in the gun-heavy Western.
During the trial, movie-set firearms safety expert Bryan Carpenter testified that more armourers were needed on the set.
New Mexico’s worker safety agency in 2022 fined the company, Rust Media Productions, the state’s maximum possible penalty for ignoring industry firearm safety guidelines. The company is appealing the penalty.
As one of the least experienced, least powerful people on set, Mr Bowles said his client was taking the blame for management.
“You’ve got a convenient fall person, a convenient scapegoat,” said Mr Bowles.
Throughout the trial witnesses ranging from director Mr Souza to assistant director Dave Halls said it was beyond anyone’s imagination that live rounds could be mingled in with dummy rounds on the production.
State prosecutors and defence lawyers have fought over the source of live rounds, which are strictly forbidden on movie sets.
During the trial a Santa Fe detective cited “circumstantial evidence” that Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly brought the live rounds to Rust from a previous production in a white cardboard box.
Ms Morrissey gave jurors photos taken up to 10 days before the shooting showing a live round in the box and one in Baldwin’s bandolier.
“That’s a mountain of circumstantial evidence,” Ms Morrissey said. “This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun loaded with dummies.”
Mr Bowles repeatedly blamed props supplier Seth Kenney, who has not been charged, as the source of the live rounds.
He said Mr Kenney, a weapons consultant on movies like Man Down and a props supplier to TV show The Walking Dead, was not searched until a month after the shooting, allowing him to potentially dispose of evidence from his Albuquerque office.
During the trial Mr Kenney told the jury that he “started to sense that there were efforts to redistribute blame or the cause of this accident”. He has denied bringing live rounds on set.
Without knowing live rounds were on set, Mr Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed did not show “wilful disregard” for the safety of others, a requirement to convict her of involuntary manslaughter or a lesser charge of negligent use of a firearm, which carries up to six months in jail.
Half a dozen Rust crew members called by prosecutors testified that safety meetings were skipped and that Gutierrez-Reed sometimes failed to check whether weapons were loaded.
