Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the gunsmith of the ill-fated Western film “Rust,” was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the film's director of photography.
Jurors returned a verdict after less than three hours of deliberations Wednesday afternoon, following two weeks of testimony about security failures on the set.
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Gutierrez Reed was acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence. He faces up to 18 months in prison at sentencing, which is expected in April.
After the verdict, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ordered Gutiérrez Reed's preventive detention. While her lawyer, Mónica Barreras, rubbed her back to comfort her, the bailiffs took her away.
Outside the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, juror Alberto Sanchez told reporters that the jury reached a “fair” verdict.
“Someone died,” Sanchez said. “You have to take responsibility. Especially when you handle weapons and are in charge of them. That's your job.”
Gutiérrez Reed was the first person to be judged at the October 21, 2021 shoot on the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Alec Baldwin will face his own manslaughter trial in July. First assistant director Dave Halls reached a plea deal last year for misdemeanor negligent handling of a weapon and served six months of unsupervised probation.
Gutiérrez Reed loaded a real bullet into Baldwin's gun, which should have contained only fake bullets. The gun fired, killing Halyna Hutchins and seriously injured director Joel Souza.
Gutiérrez Reed got the job largely because his father, then caneis a legendary film gunsmith who worked on “Tombstone,” “3:10 to Yuma” and “LA Confidential,” among many others.
Thell Reed was in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Although his name appeared on the defense witness list, he was not called to testify. Stacy Reed, the defendant's mother, was also there and was crying when her daughter was taken away.
Hutchins' friend Rachel Mason attended the trial and is directing and producing a documentary about her life titled “Halyna.” Interviewed after the verdict, Mason said she was still processing feelings of grief and grief.
“My overall feeling is extreme sadness that Halyna will still not be here,” Mason said. “Hannah going to jail won't change that.”
To be convicted of the involuntary manslaughter charge, jurors had to agree that Gutierrez Reed acted with “intentional disregard for the safety of others” and that the death was a “foreseeable” consequence of her actions.
Shortly before the verdict, jurors asked a question about what might constitute an “intermediate event” that would break the predictable chain of events. Marlowe Sommer said she could offer no explanation other than those contained in the jury instructions.
In its closing argument On Wednesday morning, prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued that Gutierrez Reed's actions constituted a “shocking” failure to comply with industry safety practices. She argued that Gutierrez Reed was responsible for bringing the real bullets to the set and that he never properly tested them to make sure they were fake.
The jury seemed to agree with that assessment.
“She could have paused work, stopped and cleared everything up, and she never did,” Sanchez said outside court. “That was her job to check those bullets, those firearms. Nobody wanted to pay attention or do that kind of thing and stop working.”
Defense attorney Jason Bowles responded that a workplace safety investigation blamed management, in part, for not giving Gutierrez Reed adequate time to do his job. He also attempted to blame Seth Kenney, the weapons supplier who provided blanks and dummy bullets to the production.
Outside court, Bowles said he was disappointed with the verdict and would appeal.
“The evidence was not enough to convict him,” he said. “There was a lot of guesswork, a lot of speculation.”
Mary Carmack-Altwies, the elected district attorney in Santa Fe, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon thanking the jury and Morrissey and Jason Lewis, the outside attorneys whom she appointed as special prosecutors in the case.
“From the beginning of this case, the FJDA's sole objective was to bring justice to the family and friends of Halyna Hutchins and ensure that those responsible for her death were held accountable,” Carmack-Altwies said. “To achieve this, the prosecution team exhausted the investigative efforts that were essential to successfully moving forward in this tragic and totally avoidable case.”
Morrissey and Lewis took over the case last March, after Carmack-Altwies and another special prosecutor withdrew.
The two private attorneys hired a new firearms expert and an imaging expert to improve the photographs. They requested behind-the-scenes footage and conducted an exhaustive review of thousands of photographs and videos, ultimately concluding that Gutiérrez Reed had brought the bullets live to the film set.
Sanchez said the jury agreed with that conclusion.
Gloria Allred, who sued Baldwin and the producers of “Rust” on behalf of Hutchins’ parents and sister, issued a statement saying she is “pleased” with the verdict but that her clients want all those responsible held accountable.
“Today was the first trial and conviction in the criminal justice process,” Allred and co-counsel John Carpenter said in the statement. “We hope that the justice system continues to ensure that all others responsible for Halyna's death must face the legal consequences of their actions.”
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