The jury in the trial of the weapons supervisor on the set of “Rust” who allegedly loaded the prop gun that Alec Baldwin used to accidentally shoot and kill cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has reached a verdict.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering. Baldwin, who was pointing the gun at Hutchins when it went off, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured in the incident. Souza testified in Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, speaking emotionally about the incident.
Much of the trial focused on the source of six live bullets that were found on the set of “Rust,” including the one fired from the prop gun that Baldwin was holding. Both Hutchins and Souza were struck by the live bullet, which had somehow been loaded into the prop gun. The production was only supposed to be using dummy ammunition. Live ammunition is expressly prohibited on movie sets by the industry and union guidelines.
Gutierrez-Reed faces up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine for the charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors alleged that Gutierrez-Reed brought live ammunition onto the set of the Western, noting that the live ammunition does not match bullets seized from the film’s Albuquerque ammunition supplier, and treated basic weapons safety protocols as optional. Defense attorneys argued that problems on the set were beyond Gutierrez-Reed’s control and that the main supplier of ammunition had not been properly investigated.
The film’s ammunition supplier testified Tuesday he had only provided dummy rounds to “Rust,” but said he had been dealing with live ammunition rounds for another production at the same time.
David Halls, the safety coordinator on the set of “Rust,” testified earlier in the trial that Gutierrez-Reed had twice handed the revolver to Baldwin. Once, the gun was empty. The second time, it was loaded with both dummy rounds and a live bullet. Halls, who pleaded no contest last year to negligent use of a firearm and completed six months of unsupervised parole, testified that he and Gutierrez-Reed performed a rudimentary safety check before handing the gun to Baldwin the second time.
Halls’ statement conflicted with other comments made about the shooting: Gutierrez-Reed has not testified, but told investigators after the shooting that she had handed the gun to Halls and left the filming area. Baldwin initially told investigators that Gutierrez-Reed handed him the weapon, but later said it was Halls who had done so.
Gutierrez-Reed said that she did not know how the live ammunition ended up in the gun in a November 2021 statement released through her lawyers. In the statement, she said she had completed a full safety check of the gun before handing it to Hall.
“No one could have anticipated or thought that someone would introduce live rounds into this set,” Gutierrez-Reed’s statement said.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer on the gun, but did not pull the trigger. Gutierrez-Reed’s statement said that she told actors not to point guns at other people on set.
The second charge of evidence tampering stems from allegations that Gutierrez-Reed handed a small bag of what might have been narcotics to another crew member on the film set to avoid detection after the shooting, according to the Associated Press.
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