‘Rust’ Armorer Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in On-Set Shooting
Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty Wednesday of causing the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins two years ago on the set of Alec Baldwin’s Western flick Rust. The rookie armorer faces up to 18 months in prison for her role in the death of Hutchins, who was a rising star in her industry.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Hutchins’ parents and sister said they were “satisfied that the jury, based on the evidence, found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for her part in the taking of Halyna’s life.” They added, “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.”
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Jurors took a little more than two hours to reach their verdict after the 10-day trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gutierrez-Reed was acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence, meaning jurors did not believe prosecutors proved she handed off a bag of cocaine to a fellow crew member just hours after her first interview with police on Oct. 21, 2021, the day of the fatal shooting.
In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed negligently brought live ammunition onto the set and failed to identify that it was mixed in with the inert, dummy rounds that she was loading into prop weapons. Six live bullets were eventually found on the production at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, including the live round that killed Hutchins. Two others were found loose on top of a prop cart while one was found in Baldwin’s holster belt and another was found in actor Jensen Ackles’ gun belt.
“This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies,” special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said.
Morrissey showed jurors a series of photos showing actors and stunt people casually pointing guns at people during breaks in filming. She faulted Gutierrez-Reed for not intervening: “She’s there. We hear her. We see her. She does nothing.” Morrissey said Gutierrez-Reed’s “entire job is to be responsible,” and she was “not paying attention, not taking her job seriously.”
“This case is about constant, never-ending safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another,” Morrissey said. (The film’s director Joel Souza was wounded in the shoulder by the same bullet that killed Hutchins.)
In a police interview played for jurors during the trial, Gutierrez-Reed admitted she arrived on set with loose ammunition left over from her job on the Nicolas Cage movie The Old Way.
“I’m not telling you that Hannah Gutierrez intended to bring live rounds on set,” Morrissey argued. “I’m telling you that she was negligent. She was careless. She was thoughtless.” Morrissey said it was possible the same live rounds “were floating around the set of The Old Way, and Nicolas Cage is lucky to have walked away with his life.”
After the verdict, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ordered Gutierrez-Reed remanded into custody. “This is a death. It’s criminal negligence, but it’s still a death,” the judge said before a deputy led Gutierrez-Reed out of the courtroom without handcuffing her. Gutierrez-Reed’s mother, Stacy Reed, was distraught and crying in the courtroom gallery.
When Gutierrez-Reed’s televised trial began on Feb. 22, dueling portrayals of the young weapons expert took center stage. In opening statements, prosecutors accused Gutierrez-Reed of being “unprofessional and sloppy,” claiming that jurors would hear testimony that she “routinely left guns and ammunition lying around the set, unattended, and that her gun safe and ammo cart were constantly disorganized.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s defense lawyer, Jason Bowles, portrayed her as a powerless figure on set, someone who was rushed repeatedly and forced to split her time between her job as armorer and another job as a props assistant. He called her a “scapegoat” for producers concerned more about “profit” than people’s lives. He said investigators “rushed to judgment” in their probe, failing to seriously consider prop supplier Seth Kenney as the possible source of the live ammunition.
Bowles argued the fatal shooting was not “foreseeable” because Baldwin went “off script” inside the wooden church where Hutchins was shot, and either way, Gutierrez-Reed had no idea live ammunition was on the set. “It was not in the script for Mr. Baldwin to point the weapon,” Bowles said. “(Gutierrez-Reed) did not know Mr. Baldwin was going to do what he did.” He argued that Baldwin’s impromptu actions meant the deadly shooting was not foreseeable to his client.
“It cannot be willful if Hannah does not know there’s live rounds, and nobody did,” he continued. “Nobody in their wildest dreams thought there was a live round.” In a statement to Rolling Stone, Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed would be appealing the verdict.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to his own involuntary manslaughter charge and is set to face trial in July.
Morrissey argued Wednesday that Baldwin “also contributed” to the tragedy when he pointed the gun, but that was a question “for another time” and did not absolve Gutierrez-Reed. She said “everyone with criminal culpability has been criminally charged,” so no single individual was a “scapegoat.” (The film’s assistant director, David Halls, took an early deal from prosecutors. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of negligent handling of a gun and served six months of probation.)
“Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety inside that church on that day is something that he’s going to have to answer for,” Morrissey said. “That will be for another jury on another day.”
This article was updated on March 6 at 9:00 p.m. E.T. to include a statement from Halyna Hutchins’ parents and sister.
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