‘Rust’ weapons handler stands trial for on-set taking pictures by Alec Baldwin

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SANTA FE, New Mexico — The trial of “Rust” chief weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez-Reed over the demise of the movie’s cinematographer begins on Wednesday, in a case prone to form actor Alec Baldwin’s protection of his function in Hollywood’s first on-set taking pictures fatality in almost 30 years.

Rising star cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in 2021 after Gutierrez-Reed mistakenly loaded a stay spherical right into a copy Colt .45 revolver that Baldwin was rehearsing with on a film set outdoors Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors say.

Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin each face a cost of involuntary manslaughter. The revolver Baldwin was holding fired the spherical that killed Hutchins. He mentioned he cocked the gun however didn’t pull the set off. Baldwin’s trial date has not been set.

Gutierrez-Reed’s trial begins Wednesday with jury choice. As soon as jurors are chosen, New Mexico state prosecutors will inform them the 27-year-old Gutierrez-Reed confirmed reckless disregard for security by allegedly bringing stay rounds on set —an act strictly forbidden — and utilizing medication like cocaine and marijuana that impaired her means to do a job essential to security on set.

Ought to a jury consider that Gutierrez-Reed, who skilled together with her stepfather, famed film armorer Thell Reed, confirmed felony negligence, she could possibly be convicted of the involuntary manslaughter cost, in addition to an proof tampering cost alleging she handed a bag of cocaine to a crew member after the taking pictures to stop police discovering it. Every cost carries as much as 18 months imprisonment.

“If the prosecution can draw a nexus between alcohol and drug use, or the consequences of the medication, whereas she was at work sustaining the weaponry, she’s in a variety of hassle,” mentioned College of New Mexico regulation professor Joshua Kastenberg.

Her attorneys say there isn’t a proof medication impaired Gutierrez-Reed’s work. She was not examined for medication after the taking pictures.

The demise of Hutchins was the primary on-set deadly taking pictures since actor Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of the late martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, died in 1993 through the filming of “The Crow” when a clean spherical fired a bullet unknowingly lodged within the barrel of a revolver.

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys will current her because the scapegoat for a chaotic, low-budget manufacturing the place Baldwin and first assistant director Dave Halls didn’t observe firearm security procedures, producers refused Gutierrez-Reed’s requests for further firearms coaching, and digicam crew members walked off set hours earlier than Hutchins died, complaining of hazardous circumstances.

The armorer mentioned she requested for extra instruction for Baldwin as a result of he had harmful firearms habits, regardless of being the son of a college rifle staff coach.

“He had some poor type,” Gutierrez-Reed mentioned throughout a Dec.7, 2022, interview with New Mexico state employee security investigators, saying that Baldwin would pull a revolver’s set off to launch the hammer after a movie sequence, somewhat than decrease it along with his thumb, an motion that might by accident hearth a spherical.

Gutierrez-Reed alleged that prop provider Seth Kenney, a former household pal she sued over the taking pictures, offered “Rust” with stay rounds combined amongst dummies.

That lawsuit was withdrawn after Kenney mentioned Gutierrez-Reed purchased the stay rounds earlier than the manufacturing, and he obtained hundreds of her texts as proof.

Particular prosecutors will current the texts throughout her trial.

Stephen Aarons, a Santa Fe felony protection lawyer, mentioned Baldwin shall be watching the Gutierrez-Reed trial intently.

“Alex will undertake among the prosecution’s case in opposition to Hannah and say, ‘Have a look at all this, I knew nothing of this,'” Aarons mentioned.

Armorers are accountable for making certain on-set gun security, not actors.

“There could possibly be an inconsistency to find that, or alleging that two individuals are each accountable for a similar occasion if it is the armorer who’s wholly accountable for figuring out security,” mentioned Kate Mangels, associate at leisure regulation agency Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.

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