Jury selection is set to begin Wednesday for the trial of the armorer who was working on the set of the film “Rust” in October 2021 when actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a scene rehearsal.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Jury selection for her trial will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors claimed to have “substantial evidence” that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed loaded a live round into the revolver used by Mr. Baldwin after unknowingly bringing live ammunition onto the set.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey alleged that the armorer “brought live rounds onto a movie set” and “failed to discover them for 12 days.”
The evidence tampering charge stems from accusations that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed handed a small bag of illegal drugs to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection by law enforcement.
“After she got back from giving her statement, she took what appeared—and our witness would testify—was a bag of cocaine, handed it to her, and said, ‘Hang on to this for me,’ because she was under police investigation. It’s the exact same connection you would see with any tampering charge,” Ms. Morrissey added.
Fatal Shooting
Ms. Hutchins was killed after a gun Mr. Baldwin had been rehearsing with went off on set. The actor was initially charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the incident, but the charges were dropped in April 2023 after new evidence suggested the gun’s hammer might have been modified, causing it to misfire.More than 40 people are listed as witnesses for the trial, which is scheduled to run through March 6.
Special prosecutors sent the gun for more forensic testing several months ago. Experts who evaluated the firearm found that it could have only fired if the trigger was pulled.
“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,” their report concluded.
“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,” it added.
The Rust Movie Productions company has paid a $100,000 fine to state workplace safety regulators after a scathing narrative of failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires that occurred on set before the fatal shooting.
The filming of “Rust” resumed last year in Montana under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.
