Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey pushed back on the defense placing blame on anybody but “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed for the 2021 fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins during Wednesday’s closing arguments.
Gutierrez Reed is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter after Hutchins was shot by a gun Alec Baldwin was holding on the set of “Rust” in Oct 2021. The cinematographer died from the through-and-through gunshot wound to her chest.
“The defense says Alec Baldwin is to blame for acting like a prima donna on the movie set and bossing people around. This is Hollywood, for heaven’s sakes. I would imagine that’s relatively common,” Morrissey told the jury. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that his conduct was right. I am the person who indicted him. Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety inside that church on that day is something that he is going to have to answer for. Not with you and not today. That’ll be with another jury on another day.”
CONVICTED ‘RUST’ ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TESTIFIES TO TENSE FINAL MOMENTS BEFORE FATAL SET SHOOTING
Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s legal team emphasized that Alec Baldwin had gone “off script” on the day of Halyna Hutchins’ death. (Getty Images)
During Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer’s closing arguments in the armorer’s involuntary manslaughter trial, he emphasized that Alec Baldwin went “off script.” According to Bowels, Baldwin did this multiple times, which cast reasonable doubt that the fatal shooting was “foreseeable.”
The jury was shown footage of Baldwin choosing to fire his gun after the director had called cut on the scene, an example of his “off script” behavior. Additionally, the lawyer noted script supervisor Mamie Mitchell had testified that Baldwin wasn’t even supposed to be pointing the gun at the camera when it fired.
“Ms. Gutierrez Reed nor anybody else knew that Mr. Baldwin, in that moment, was going to point the weapon right at Halyna Hutchins and Mr. Souza and do what he did,” Bowles told the jury.
Bowles claimed the prosecution singled out Gutierrez Reed “from the very beginning” and “rushed to judgment” on the armorer. The defense team reminded the jury that Gutierrez Reed was only working on the movie set as a “part-time armorer.”
Gutierrez Reed’s team also argued the jury “can’t trust” the witness testimony given by the prosecution’s witnesses, specifically prop master Sarah Zachry. The crew member admitted to throwing away rounds on the set immediately after the shooting.
Alec Baldwin will face a jury in connection to the fatal shooting on Oct. 21, 2021. His trial will begin on July 9. (Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department)
‘RUST’ DIRECTOR DESCRIBES MOMENT HE WAS SHOT BY ALEC BALDWIN
The special prosecutor mainly argued Gutierrez Reed “failed to maintain firearms safety” which made a fatal accident “willful” and “foreseeable.”
“It’s really important because this is not a case where Hannah Gutierrez made one mistake and that one mistake was accidentally putting a live round into that gun. That’s not what this case is about,” Morrissey told the jury. “This case is about constant, never ending safety failure that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another.”
Morrissey showed the jury a handful of photos where firearms were pointed directly at a child, crew members and directly at the camera while Gutierrez Reed was nearby. In one photo, the armorer can be seen pointing the muzzle of a gun towards her own face.
Gutierrez Reed unknowingly brought live rounds onto the set of “Rust” and then failed to identify them — leading to the death of Hutchins, according to the prosecution.
A photograph taken on the set of “Rust” on Oct. 10 shows alleged live rounds in Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s lap. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
The investigation did find live rounds at PDQ prop — the ammo supplier of “Rust” — but the prosecution claimed they did not match the live round fired on set on Oct. 21, 2021. The defense had emphasized that live rounds were found at Seth Kenney’s business. However, the prosecution claimed the live rounds on the “Rust” set were seen in photographs taken on Oct. 10 — two days before Kenney’s dummy rounds arrived.
Closing arguments began Wednesday after 10 days of trial testimony. Jury selection for Gutierrez Reed’s trial occurred on Feb. 21, where seven men and five women were selected out of 70 possible jurors. After closing arguments, the jury was dismissed for deliberations.
A photograph showing one live round amid dummy ammo on the set of “Rust.” (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
Gutierrez Reed was also charged with evidence tampering after prosecutors claimed she passed off a baggie of cocaine on the day of the shooting in order to get rid of evidence against her.
“You have to understand in the mind of Hannah Gutierrez, this investigation went from this big — to this big — because the difference between shooting someone and them living and shooting someone and them dying is a really, really big difference. So, she is told by [‘Rust’ crew member] Rebecca Smith that the investigation just got giant and very, very serious. So, after receiving that information, she offloads this bag of cocaine to Rebecca Smith.”
‘RUST’ ARMORER BECOMES DISTRESSED WHEN SHOWN AUTOPSY PHOTOS OF HALYNA HUTCHINS DURING SHOOTING TRIAL
Hannah Gutierrez Reed puts her head down in her hands while autopsy photos of Halyna Hutchins’ gunshot wounds were shown in court. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
Throughout the trial, the jury heard testimony from weapons experts, FBI and Santa Fe County authorities who investigated the case, along with crew members who worked on the set.
Gutierrez Reed’s legal team pushed blame for the fatal shooting onto Baldwin and the production company behind “Rust.” The New Mexico Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigator who was assigned to the fatal incident testified that director Dave Halls, line producer Gabrielle Pickle and prop master Sarah Zachry were responsible.
“The employer is asking an individual to perform multiple safety related functions for them, while also telling them that they’re spending too much time engaging in those safety-related functions and need to devote more time to other duties,” Lawrence Montoya said. “And on that matter, we determine that to be a managerial decision.”
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“Rust” director Joel Souza took the stand and gave the jury a detailed description of the moments before and after the fatal shooting. Souza, who was shot in the shoulder on the set of the Western film, recalled what he was doing in the moments right before the gun went off. Hutchins and Souza were working to stage a close-up scene involving Baldwin and a revolver, when the gun the actor was holding discharged – killing Hutchins.
Joel Souza, the “Rust” director, testified during Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s involuntary manslaughter trial. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
“I went inside [the church] again to see, to try to see what the angle was, there were a lot of voices,” he recalled during his testimony at Gutierrez Reed’s trial. “I heard Alec’s voice. I heard Halyna’s voice, everyone sort of talking at once. I don’t have a clear memory of how long I was standing behind her. I know I got up behind her to … try to see on the monitor, and there was an incredibly loud bang that was not like the half and quarter loads you hear on a set. Those are sort of, they’re loud poofs and pops. This was deafening.”
“And it felt like somebody had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder. I remember that distinctly and sort of stumbling back and shouting. I don’t remember exactly what I said.”
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Hannah Gutierrez Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
Gutierrez Reed was on trial for involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in connection with the fatal shooting of Hutchins. The armorer was 24-years-old at the time of the on-set shooting.
Baldwin is also facing involuntary manslaughter charges and his trial is set to begin in July.
