A movie weapons supervisor is facing up to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” with her sentencing scheduled for Monday in a New Mexico state court.
Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
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Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” where it was expressly prohibited and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated for about three hours in reaching its verdict.
It’s been a while since I really looked into it, but there seem to be some open questions that could get him on the same standard:
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What’s up with his claim that he didn’t even pull the trigger, which seems to have been misleading?
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Could he have pointed the gun in a slightly different direction?
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Was the shot they wanted so artistically necessary that it had to be done with practical effects?
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Does an actor still maintain some residual “normal human” responsibility before pulling a trigger on a real gun pointed at an innocent person, and if so how much?
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Did he, in his role as a producer on a fairly slapdash production, bear any culpability for the armorer’s actions or for hiring her in the first place? The NM statute is pretty broad, though I think he’ll more likely face civil than criminal liability here.
All in all, my gut impression is he has a very good chance at being acquitted, but it was also a fair case to bring:
Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.
EDIT: @homura1650@lemm.ee is probably more up on what’s going on than I am.
