©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Actor Alec Baldwin leaves his home, as he will be charged with manslaughter over the fatal shooting of filmmaker Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film ‘Rust’, in New York, U.S., January 31, 2023. REUTERS/David “Dee” Delgad
By Andrew Hay
SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – A New Mexico jury found “Rust” gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday, ending the trial over the first fatal shooting on a Hollywood set in nearly 30 years.
Ten days of testimony had focused on whether the relatively inexperienced gunsmith endangered crewmates and cast members while handling and supervising firearms in the low-budget production set in New Mexico.
Just after lunch on October 21, 2021, Gutierrez mistakenly loaded a live round into a replica Colt .45 revolver that actor Alec Baldwin was using inside a church movie set outside of Santa Fe.
Baldwin cocked the gun, pointed it at the camera, and fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. Baldwin denies pulling the trigger. His manslaughter trial is set for July 10.
“This case involves constant and never-ending safety failures that resulted in the death of one human being and nearly killed another,” New Mexico State Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said in her closing statements late Wednesday.
Gutierrez’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, said the film’s production company tried to cut costs by employing Gutierrez as both a part-time gunsmith and prop assistant in the gun-heavy western.
During the trial, film set firearms safety expert Bryan Carpenter testified that more gunsmiths were needed on the set.
New Mexico’s worker safety agency in 2022 fined the company, Rust Media Productions, the state’s maximum possible penalty for ignoring industry guidelines on firearms safety.
As one of the least experienced and least powerful people on set, attorney Bowles said his client was taking the blame for the management.
“You have a convenient person, a convenient scapegoat,” Bowles said.
‘RUSSIAN ROULETTE’
Throughout the trial witnesses, from director Souza to assistant director Dave Halls, said it was beyond anyone’s imagination that live footage could be mixed with fictional footage in the production.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers have argued over the source of the live bullets, which are strictly prohibited on movie sets.
During the trial, a Santa Fe detective cited “circumstantial evidence” that Gutierrez unknowingly brought live bullets from a previous production in a white cardboard box to “Rust.”
Morrissey provided jurors with photos taken up to 10 days before the shooting that showed one live round in the box and one in Baldwin’s bandolier.
“This is a mountain of circumstantial evidence,” Morrissey said. “This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun loaded with dummies.”
Bowles has repeatedly blamed prop supplier Seth Kenney, who has not been charged, as the source of the live shots. He said Kenney, a weapons consultant for films such as “Man Down” and a prop supplier for “The Walking Dead,” was not raided until a month after the shooting, potentially allowing him to dispose of evidence from his he Albuquerque office.
Without knowing there were live shots on set, Bowles said Gutierrez did not show “willful disregard” for the safety of others, a requirement to convict her of manslaughter or a lesser charge of negligent use of a firearm, which lasts up to six months in prison. prison.
A half-dozen “Rust” crew members called by prosecutors testified that safety meetings were skipped, that Gutierrez sometimes failed to check whether weapons were loaded and that Baldwin broke basic gun safety rules. Weapons.