Gutierrez-Reed is immediately taken into custody after a jury find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the cinematographer during filming of the Western movie on October 21, 2021.
- Mar 7, 2024
AceShowbiz - "Rust" armorer has been convicted in the death of Halyna Hutchins. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of the late cinematographer, who was accidentally shot during filming of the Western film on October 21, 2021.
A jury delivered the verdict on Wednesday, March 6 after deliberating for less than three hours at the New Mexico courthouse. Gutierrez-Reed was also found guilty of evidence tampering, a charge she received in 2023 after investigators accused her of passing off a bag of cocaine on the day of the fatal shooting.
After the verdict was read, judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ordered Gutierrez-Reed be taken into custody, where she will remain until she is sentenced. "I'm going to remand you," Sommer told the courtroom. "The reason is you are now convicted, and this is a death."
Gutierrez-Reed was immediately taken into custody by deputies and awaits a sentencing date at the court's convenience. She faces up to 18 months in prison, in addition to a $5,000 fine.
Outside the First Judicial District courthouse in Santa Fe, N.M., juror Alberto Sanchez told reporters that the jury reached a "fair" verdict. "Someone died," Sanchez said. "You gotta take responsibility. Especially when you're handling weapons and you're in charge of those. That's your job."
During the trial that began on February 21, the prosecution largely focused on Gutierrez-Reed's behavior as an armorer, claiming she didn't do her job correctly. "Hannah Gutierrez knew that [Alec Baldwin] was loose. She knew it," special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said during closing arguments. "She didn't do anything about it, even though it was her job. It was her job. It is her job to say to an A-list actor, if in fact, that's what you want to call him, 'Hey, you can't behave that way with those firearms.' That is her job. That is what they pay her for. That is the job that she applied for. That is the job that she accepted."
Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer Jason Bowles, on the other hand, blamed the fatal shooting on factors outside of the armorer's control on set. "Whoever put the live round on set and then Mr. Baldwin, in the end, going off script and doing what he did," Bowles said. "Those are outside events outside of Ms. Gutierrez Reed's control that she didn't know was going to happen."
Baldwin is currently still facing a second involuntary manslaughter charge in connection to Hutchins' death. He was indicted for the second time on January 19, after the initial charge was dropped in April 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to the second charge, but a trial, which was initially scheduled to being on August 6, has been postponed.
