'Rust' Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter in Fatal Set Shooting
Mar. 6 2024, Published 6:46 p.m. ET
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the head armorer of Alec Baldwin's Western film Rust, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, now faces up to 18 months behind bars and a $5,000 fine. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Gutierrez Reed faces up to 18 months behind bars.
After two weeks of testimony regarding the accidental shooting on set, in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured, the jury took less than three hours to deliberate before arriving at their verdict.
To convict Gutierrez Reed of involuntary manslaughter, jurors were required to agree that the armorer acted with a "willful disregard for the safety of others" and Hutchins' death was a "foreseeable" consequence of the armorer's actions.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours on Wednesday.
While the 26-year-old was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, she was acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence.
After the jury's verdict was read, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ordered the Hollywood armorer to be taken into custody.
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Hutchins died on set after a live round was fired from Baldwin's prop gun.
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During closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Gutierrez-Reed's actions were an "astonishing" failure of the industry's safety standards.
Prosecutors argued the head armorer was responsible for bringing live rounds to set and failed to ensure they were "rattle-tested" with dummy rounds.
Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial is expected to start in July.
The armorer's defense attorney, Jason Bowles, leaned on a workplace safety investigation that blamed management, as he argued his client was not given proper time to carry out her responsibilities.
Gutierrez-Reed was the first to stand trial in the accidental shooting. Baldwin is set to start trial for his involuntary manslaughter charges in July.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Baldwin was indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in January after his initial charges were dismissed last year.
Baldwin was initially charged in January 2023. Three months later, the charges were dropped after the actor's defense team raised questions about whether or not the Colt .45 prop gun he was holding was properly functioning.
Later that year, special prosecutors sent the prop gun — which had been broken during the FBI investigation — for additional forensic testing. The Colt .45 was deconstructed and examined by experts, who concluded that the prop gun could have only been fired by pulling its trigger.
"This fatal incident was the consequence of the hammer being manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger," experts wrote in their report.
Since the October 2021 accidental shooting, Baldwin has maintained his innocence and insists that he did not pull the prop gun's trigger.
"Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver."
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