SANTA FE, N.M. — The jury began its deliberations Wednesday in the criminal trial against "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
The case centers on how a live round of ammunition found its way onto the film’s set and into the prop gun that actor Alec Baldwin was holding on Oct. 21, 2021, and that ultimately killed the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and injured director Joel Souza.
Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on set at the time, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering and faces up to three years in prison if found guilty. She did not take the stand in her own defense.
After nearly two weeks of testimony the prosecution and the defense delivered their closing arguements in a New Mexico courtroom Wednesday.
During the prosecution's closing arguments, Kari T. Morrissey outlined what she believes were the various safety failures that led to the on-set tragedy.
"This case is about constant, never-ending safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another," Morrissey said.
She went on to detail the differences in appearance between the dummy rounds and the live rounds.
“Which of these is not like the other?” Morrissey asked.
Morrissey said that Gutierrez-Reed had brought onto set leftover dummies from another movie that were provided by her father.
"I’m not telling you Hannah Gutierrez-Reed intended to bring live rounds on set," Morrissey said.
“She was negligent, she was careless, she was thoughtless,” Morrissey said.
Morrissey also said that following the fatal shooting, the 27-year-old armorer was more “worried about her career” and less about the victims.
But defense attorney, Jason Bowles said that the prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for bringing live rounds onto the set and alleged that Baldwin was ultimately responsible for Hutchins death.
"I submit to you what caused her death is Mr. Baldwin going off script. No one ever knew there would be a live round on set. The only act is the pointing of the weapon. Ms Gutierrez didn’t point that weapon," Bowles said.
Throughout the trial, a series of eyewitnesses who were on set took the stand, including Souza, who recounted what it was like to be shot and the confusion that ensued.
“Nothing made sense," Souza said last week. He said he remembered looking up at Gutierrez-Reed after the incident and hearing her repeatedly say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Joel.”
Souza described the feeling of being shot as though someone had “taken a baseball bat to my shoulder.”
But he said he did not realize he had been injured by a live round of ammunition, and when medical personnel informed him at the hospital, “It could not compute for me,” Souza said.
Dave Halls, who was the film’s safety coordinator and pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon last year as part of a plea deal, also took the stand. His testimony was the first time he had spoken publicly about what happened that day. An emotional Halls testified that he should have checked the gun more thoroughly, admitting that he “did an improper check of that firearm.”
Halls went on to say that he did not recall seeing Gutierrez-Reed spin the entire cylinder around to ensure all bullets were dummy rounds. While wiping away tears he said, “I let a safety check pass.”
During opening statements, special prosecutor Jason Lewis called Gutierrez-Reed’s behavior on the “Rust” set “sloppy” and “unprofessional.”
“We believe that it was the negligent acts and failures of the defendant ... that contributed to Ms. Hutchins’ death,” he said.
Now it's up to a jury to decide if the prosecutors have demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for Hutchins' death.
The trial for Baldwin, who is charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, is set to begin in July.
Dana Griffin and Sumiko Moots reported from Santa Fe, and Chloe Melas from New York City.
