‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in Alec Baldwin Shooting

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who served as armorer on the fatal set for the movie Rust, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her role in Alec Baldwin’s accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The jury convicted Reed on Wednesday after just three hours of deliberation following two weeks of testimony about the unsafe conditions on the set of Rust, which culminated in the fatal moment when actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a gun he had been told was “cold.” The armorer was, however, acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence and faces up to 18 months in prison.

Per Variety.:

As the film’s armorer, Gutierrez Reed was responsible for safe handling of guns on set. She loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s pistol, which should have contained only dummy rounds. The gun fired, killing Halyna Hutchins and seriously wounding director Joel Souza. To convict on the involuntary manslaughter charge, jurors had to agree that Gutierrez Reed acted with “willful disregard for the safety of others” and that the death was a “foreseeable” consequence of her actions. ShorVtly before the verdict, the jurors asked a question about what might constitute an “intervening event” that would break the foreseeable chain of events. Marlowe Sommer said that she could not offer further explanation than what was contained in jury instructions.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey said that Reed failed to adhere to safety regulations that could have prevented Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death, including her decision to bring live rounds onto a movie set and her not properly rattle-testing them to ensure they were dummies. Reed’s defense, argued, that the responsibility belongs to the film’s management, which would include Alec Baldwin serving as a producer at the time. He also blamed weapons supplier Seth Kenney for providing both live rounds and dummy rounds to the set.

Alec Baldwin’s trial date for involuntary manslaughter has been set for July 10 of this year. On October 21, 2021, while filming the western movie Rust, Alec Baldwin shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal. Baldwin claims the revolver that he had been given from the AD suddenly fired when he pulled back the hammer, emphatically stating that he did not pull the trigger.

Subsequent analysis of the firearm from the FBI later concluded that “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

 

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.