Jurors took just over two hours to find Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty. Photo: AP
The woman in charge of the guns on the Alec Baldwin movie set where a cameraman was shot was found guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday.
It took a jury in New Mexico just over two hours to decide. to find Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of charges in the October 2021 death of Galina Hutchins.
However, she was found not guilty of tampering with evidence.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was in charge of the gun while filming the film in New Mexico in October 2021 when the gun used by star and co-producer Baldwin exploded during rehearsal.
Cinematographer Galina Hutchins, 42, died in the incident, and director Joel Souza was injured.
Assistant director David Halls, who took a plea deal last year for careless use of a deadly weapon, received six months probation. , also testified in the case.
She was found guilty based on testimony from dozens of witnesses, including eyewitnesses, FBI analysts and Rust's ammunition supplier, as well as Mr. Souza.
Baldwin, the third man charged in the shooting, is due to stand trial in July after pleading not guilty to manslaughter.
A judge remanded Gutierrez-Reed in custody until her sentencing, which is not expected until next month. She faces up to 18 months in prison.
Testimony at the trial focused on whether the relatively inexperienced gunsmith endangered fellow cast members and actors by handling and supervising firearms on the low-budget production in New York City. Mexico.
Hutchins' death was a first in Hollywood. — fatal shootings occurred in almost 30 years.
On October 21, 2021, Gutierrez-Reed mistakenly loaded a live round into a reproduction Colt .45 revolver that Baldwin was using at a church near Santa Fe where the film was filmed. .
Baldwin cocked the pistol, pointed it at the camera, and it fired a single live bullet that killed cameraman Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
“This is a case of persistent, never-ending security failures that resulted in the death of one person and the near death of another,” New Mexico Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said in her closing statement earlier Wednesday. < /p>
Gutierrez-Reed worked part-time as a gunsmith and props assistant on a gun-heavy western.
During the trial, on-set firearms safety expert Brian Carpenter testified that more gunsmiths were needed on set.
The New Mexico Occupational Safety Agency fined Rust Media Productions in 2022, the state's maximum possible penalty for ignoring industry guidelines on firearm safety. The company is appealing the fine.
As one of the least experienced and least influential people on the set, Mr. Bowles said his client took the blame from management.
“You have a convenient man, a convenient scapegoat,” Mr. Bowles said. .
Throughout the trial, witnesses, from director Mr. Souza to assistant director Dave Halls, said it was inconceivable in the production that live ammunition could be mixed with dummies.
State prosecutors and defense lawyers are fighting over… for the source of live ammunition, which is strictly prohibited on film sets.
During the trial, a Santa Fe detective cited “circumstantial evidence” that Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly brought live ammunition from a previous production to Rust in a white cardboard box box.
Ms. Morrissey provided jurors with photographs taken 10 days before the shooting, showing a live round in the box and one in Baldwin's bandoleer.
“This is a mountain of circumstantial evidence,” Ms. Morrissey said. «It was a game of Russian roulette any time an actor had a gun loaded with dummies.»
Mr Bowles has repeatedly blamed props supplier Seth Kenny, who has not been charged, as the source of the live ammunition.
He said Mr Kenny, a weapons consultant on films such as «The Fall of Man» and a prop supplier for the TV show «The Walking Dead», was not searched until a month after the shooting, allowing him to potentially get rid of evidence from his office in Albuquerque.
During the trial, Mr. Kenney told jurors that he «began to feel that there were attempts to reassign blame or the cause of this accident.» He denies bringing live ammunition onto the set.
Unaware that there was live ammunition on the set, Mr. Bowles said Gutierrez-Reid did not show «willful disregard» for the safety of others, which is a requirement to find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter or the lesser charge of negligent use of a firearm, which carries a prison sentence of up to six months.
A half-dozen members of the Rust team called by prosecutors testified that safety meetings were missed and that Gutierrez-Reed sometimes skipped to check that the gun was loaded.
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