(Variety) Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the ill-fated Western film “Rust,” was convicted on Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the film’s cinematographer.
Jurors returned a verdict after less than three hours of deliberations on Wednesday afternoon, following two weeks of testimony about safety lapses on set.
Gutierrez Reed was acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence. She faces up to 18 months in prison at sentencing, which is expected sometime in April.
Following the verdict, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ordered Gutierrez Reed remanded into custody. As her attorney, Monnica Barreras, rubbed her back to comfort her, bailiffs led her away.
Outside the First Judicial District courthouse in Santa Fe, N.M., juror Alberto Sanchez told reporters that the jury reached a “fair” verdict.
“Someone died,” Sanchez said. “You gotta take responsibility. Especially when you’re handling weapons and you’re in charge of those. That’s your job.”
Gutierrez Reed was the first person to stand trial in the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting on the film set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, N.M.
Alec Baldwin is set to face his own manslaughter trial in July. The first assistant director, Dave Halls, took a plea deal last year to a misdemeanor count of negligent handling of a gun, and served six months of unsupervised probation.
Gutierrez Reed loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s pistol, which should have contained only dummy rounds. The gun fired, killing Halyna Hutchins and seriously wounding director Joel Souza.
Gutierrez Reed got the job largely because her father, Thell Reed, is a legendary film armorer who worked on “Tombstone,” “3:10 to Yuma,” and “L.A. Confidential,” among many others.
Thell Reed was in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Though his name was on the defense witness list, he was not called to testify. Stacy Reed, the defendant’s mother, was also there, and was in tears when her daughter was led away.
Rachel Mason, a friend of Hutchins’, attended the trial, and is directing and producing a documentary about her life entitled “Halyna.” Interviewed after the verdict, Mason said she was still processing feelings of grief and mourning.
“My overall feeling is extreme sadness that Halyna will continue to not be here,” Mason said. “Hannah going to jail will not change that.”
