SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico jury found "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of tampering with evidence Wednesday after having deliberated for about 2½ hours.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, faces up to 18 months in state prison when she is sentenced later. A judge ordered that she be taken into custody and held until her sentencing.
Gutierrez-Reed showed little emotion as the jury foreperson read the verdicts. She took off a necklace before a deputy took her into custody. Her mother, seated behind her, put her hands on her head and bent forward as the judge ordered her daughter remanded into custody pending sentencing.
The nearly two-week criminal trial centered on the shooting on the "Rust" film set in 2021, when actor Alec Baldwin held a prop gun that fired a live round of ammunition, killing the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. The bullet also injured director Joel Souza.
During the prosecution's closing arguments Wednesday, special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey told the jury that Gutierrez-Reed "was negligent, she was careless, she was thoughtless."
Morrissey also said that after the fatal shooting, Gutierrez-Reed was more “worried about her career” and less about the victims.
But Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, said the prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for taking live rounds onto the set and alleged that Baldwin was ultimately responsible for Hutchins' death.
“I submit to you what caused her to pass was Mr. Baldwin going off-script and pointing the weapon,” Bowles said.
Baldwin did not know there was a live round in the gun, and “nobody knew there was ever going to be a live round on that set,” Bowles told jurors.
"But the only ultimate act is the pointing of that weapon. Ms. Gutierrez wasn’t in the church, she didn’t point that weapon, she didn’t pull it,” he said.
The prosecution also called out Baldwin as a "prima donna."
"Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety in the church that day is something he’s going to have to answer for. ... Not with you not today. That’s for another jury for another day.”
Baldwin’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His criminal trial begins in July.
Juror Albert Sanchez said “pretty much not checking the weapons” was a major factor in his decision in the Gutierrez-Reed case.
“Just handing them over, like ‘here.’ Not checking — that was a big deal,” Sanchez said. “I mean, you can’t do that. And if you have live rounds there and you don’t even know it?”
Sanchez said there was not much disagreement among jurors. On the tampering with evidence charge, which did not directly deal with the shooting but alleged she handed a bag of cocaine to someone later that night after the incident, Sanchez said that “we didn’t just think it was necessary” and that “there was nothing there.”
First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who appointed special prosecutors in the closely watched case, called Hutchins’ death a “tragic and entirely preventable case” after the verdict.
She said in a statement that prosecutors’ “sole pursuits were to bring justice to Halyna Hutchins’ family and friends and to ensure that those responsible for her death were held accountable.”
Throughout the trial, a series of eyewitnesses who were on the 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 that he did not realize he had been injured by a live round of ammunition and that when medical personnel informed him at the hospital, “it could not compute for me,” Souza said.
Dave Halls, the film’s safety coordinator, who pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon last year as part of a plea deal, also took the stand. It was the first time he had spoken publicly about what happened that day. He emotionally 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 he did not recall seeing Gutierrez-Reed spin the entire cylinder around to ensure all of the bullets were dummy rounds. Wiping away tears, he said, “I let a safety check pass.”
During opening statements, another special prosecutor, Jason Lewis, called Gutierrez-Reed’s behavior on the 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.
Morrissey and Lewis were appointed special prosecutors in March 2023 after the previous special prosecutor resigned.
Bowles asked Wednesday in court that Gutierrez-Reed be allowed to remain free pending sentencing, saying she has voluntarily appeared at every hearing and court appearance.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer declined and ordered her held.
“The reason why I’m going to remand you is you are now convicted, and this is a death,” Sommer said. “It’s criminal negligence, but it’s still a death.”
A sentencing date was not set before the court went into recess, but Bowles said that he had time for the sentencing in April.
Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed will appeal. He citied jury instructions as one issue.
Bowles said in an interview Thursday that Gutierrez-Reed, her family and legal team expected her to be acquitted.
“We feel strongly management caused the situation, production — that there were safety issues across the board that they caused,” Bowles said.
He said that Gutierrez-Reed “is really taking it hard,” but they prepared her for the possibility of a guilty verdict. While Gutierrez-Reed was largely stoic in court, he said “she had a lot compassion” for Hutchins, but kept it inside.
"She was trying to have a professional demeanor in court the best she could,” Bowles said. “People did not see when she would break down behind the, when court would conclude.”
Attorneys representing Hutchins’ parents and sister said in a statement that the family members “have always wanted everyone who is responsible for Halyna’s death to be held accountable.”
“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,” said attorneys Gloria Allred and John Carpenter, who represent parents Olga Solovey and Anatolli Androsovych, as well as sister Svetlana Zemko.
Dana Griffin and Sumiko Moots reported from Santa Fe and Chloe Melas from New York City.
CORRECTION (March 6, 2024, 7:55 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated how long Hannah Gutierrez-Reed could be sentenced to state prison. She faces up to 18 months, not three years. It also misspelled the first name of the woman who was killed. She was Halyna Hutchins, not Haylna.
