Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is reportedly struggling after she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Wednesday.
As she awaits sentencing from the Santa Fe Country Adult Detention Facility, a source told TMZ that the 26-year-old, who faces up to 18 months in jail, is ‘having a really difficult time.’
The insider also noted Gutierrez-Reed’s family are ‘already setting up a time to visit her’ and are ‘devastated by her guilty verdict.’
Earlier this week, a jury found that the armorer was negligent in allowing a live bullet be placed into the gun that Alec Baldwin used on the set.
Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is reportedly struggling after she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Wednesday
After two hours of deliberations at the courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a jury found Gutierrez-Reed guilty on the manslaughter count, but acquitted her on a charge of tampering with evidence.
As she was walked out to start her sentence, her mom could be seen weeping and putting her head in her hands.
Hutchins’ family released statement after the verdict and said they ‘look forward’ to everyone else responsible for her death facing justice – an apparent reference to Baldwin who faces trial for involuntary manslaughter in July.
The actor, 65, will be tried in the same courthouse and faces the same possible sentence if convicted.
‘Halyna’s parents and her sister have always wanted everyone who is responsible for Halyna’s death to be held accountable,’ the family’s lawyers Gloria Allred and John Carpenter said.
‘Today was the first trial and conviction in the criminal justice process. We are satisfied that the jury, based on the evidence, found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for her part in the taking of Halyna’s life.
‘We look forward to the justice system continuing to make sure that everyone else who is responsible for Halyna’s death is required to face the legal consequences for their actions.’
Baldwin was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter but the allegations were dropped in April last year.
As she awaits sentencing from the Santa Fe Country Adult Detention Facility, a source told TMZ that the 24-year-old, who faces up to 18 months in jail, is ‘having a really difficult time’
The insider also noted Gutierrez-Reed’s family are ‘already setting up a time to visit her’ and are ‘devastated by her guilty verdict (seen on March 6, 2024)
He was dramatically charged again last month and pleaded not guilty.
The shooting happened in October 2021 after two weeks of filming while Baldwin was practicing drawing out his gun from the holster.
He opened fire on Hutchins, 42, a married mother-of-one whose son was nine at the time, and the bullet went through her and lodged in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, who survived and testified in court.
While Baldwin was not the defendant in this case at times it felt that he was, with one witness stating as much out loud.
Across more than two dozen witnesses, prosecutors painted a damning portrait of a film that was in a state of ‘rushed chaos.’
The night before the incident, six members of the camera crew quit because of their concerns over safety.
Gutierrez-Reed’s defense was to blame everyone but her, but especially Baldwin.
Her lawyer, Jason Bowles, said Baldwin was the ‘big boss’ on set that nobody stood up to even though he rushed people and ignored safety checks because Rust, which he was a producer on, had a tight budget.
The jury heard that Baldwin commissioned director Souza to write the script, which he owned the rights to. Baldwin was the lead actor on the movie and was also a producer.
Bowles called Gutierrez-Reed, who was just 24 at the time of the incident, a ‘scapegoat’ for wider failings that led the New Mexico safety regulator to issue a $136,000 fine to the producers for ‘willful and serious’ safety failings.
Earlier this week, a jury found that the armorer was negligent in allowing a live bullet be placed into the gun that Alec Baldwin used on the set
After two hours of deliberations at the courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a jury found Gutierrez-Reed guilty on the manslaughter count, but acquitted her on a charge of tampering with evidence; pictured in February 2024
As she was walked out to start her sentence, her mom could be seen weeping and putting her head in her hands (seen above)
Bowles told the court that Baldwin himself made the set unsafe by waving his gun like a ‘pointing stick’ at people.
A behind the scenes video from the filming showed Baldwin demanding a second shot immediately after one that just finished.
He was heard saying: ‘Right away! Right away! Let’s reload. Here we go, come on! We should have two guns, both reloading.’
Asked if that kind of conduct was typical, Carpenter said no, adding that it put pressure on the armorer to stand up to him.
Moments later, after the director shouted cut, Baldwin let loose another blank round while standing next to the 12-year-old actor.
Carpenter said that when somebody yells cut, nothing else should be fired and that Baldwin ‘went off script.’
Baldwin could have used a Nerf gun in the scene where he accidentally shot Hutchins dead because it was just a rehearsal known as blocking, the jury heard.
But Baldwin insisted on using the real guns, known as his ‘hero props’, because he preferred them, just like he preferred the most powerful dummies possible because they were more realistic.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (pictured) was fatally shot by a prop gun in a rehearsal on the set of the Western Rust
In his opening statement, Bowles said that Baldwin ‘violated basic gun safety’ by pointing the gun at Hutchins because he didn’t intend to shoot at her.
He said: ‘The primary thing here was rush, get this thing so we can get the money and that’s all on production and Mr. Baldwin is one of the primary producers. That’s on them. Miss Gutierrez-Reed had no control over that.’
During cross-examination of Addiego, Bowles asked: ‘Did you ever stand up to Mr Baldwin and say we’re not going to move this fast?’
Addiego said it was ‘not my job’ and he didn’t recall ‘anybody standing up to Mr Baldwin on the set of Rust.’
‘He’s running the show, he’s the big boss, right?’ Bowles said.
‘He’s number one, so yes,’ Addiego said.
Perhaps the most damning evidence against Baldwin undercut his claim that he never pulled the trigger on the gun.
Bryce Ziegler, an agent with the FBI firearms unit who examined the gun Baldwin used, said he had to break the gun with a mallet to get it to fire without using the trigger.
Ziegler said that couldn’t have happened on the set of Rust because the gun was in working order when it came to him.
Speaking to ABC News in December 2021 Baldwin said: ‘I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never’.
In her police interview, Gutierrez-Reed pointed the finger at Baldwin as well and claimed that he was distracted during the safety briefing she tried to give him.
She said that the actor was ‘on his phone a lot of that entire thing’ and didn’t pay attention when she was showing him how to use the weapon.
Hutchins’ family released statement after the verdict and said they ‘look forward’ to everyone else responsible for her death facing justice – an apparent reference to Baldwin who faces trial for involuntary manslaughter in July
There was powerful testimony from Dave Halls, the first assistant director on the film and the last person to handle the gun before giving it to Baldwin.
Before the trial, Halls had pleaded no contest to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon and received six months probation.
Asked why he did so, Halls said: ‘I was negligent in checking the gun properly,’
Halls became emotional as he described what happened next in the chapel on the set of Rust.
He said: ‘Mr Baldwin was pulling it (the gun) out, getting used to that action
‘He was in communication with Miss Hutchins about where to point the gun.
‘The gun went off.
The actor, 65, will be tried in the same courthouse and faces the same possible sentence if convicted; seen in March 2023
‘It was so many thoughts (in my head). The idea it was a live round of ammunition that went off, it wasn’t computing,’
Hutchins was 3ft away from Halls to his left and he said to her: ‘Are you all right,’
In tears, Halls said that Hutchins replied: ‘I can’t feel my legs,’
Addiego also broke down in tears while being pressed by Bowles on why he was part of a civil lawsuit against Baldwin and the Rust producers for negligence.
He said: ‘I’m hoping for justice, sir. Two people were injured on a film set. That has not only affected me – it’s affected the film industry.’
The criminal case is not the only court proceedings resulting from the shooting of Hutchins.
In 2022 Baldwin settled a civil lawsuit filed against him by Matthew Hutchins, the widow of Hutchins, and the father of their son.
Under the terms Rust continued production at a new location in Montana and Matthew Hutchins, who has called his wife’s death a ‘terrible accident,’ is an executive producer.