Prosecutors told jurors that « Rust » armorer Hannah Gutierrez’s negligence led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during closing arguments on Wednesday.
Jurors have reached a verdict in the involuntary manslaughter trial of « Rust » armorer Hannah Gutierrez over the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The jury deliberated for more than two hours on Wednesday.
Prosecutors told jurors that Gutierrez « repeatedly » failed to maintain proper firearm safety and that her negligence led to the death of Hutchins, while the defense countered that the 26-year-old is a « convenient scapegoat » during closing arguments in the trial on Wednesday.
During the two-week trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors presented evidence they said shows Gutierrez was responsible for bringing six live rounds onto the set — and did not discover them for 12 days before the deadly shooting by failing to perform industry standard safety practices.
Actor Alec Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw in a church on the set of the Western film on Oct. 21, 2021, when the Colt .45 revolver fired a live round, striking Hutchins and director Joel Souza, who suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
« This is not a case where Hannah Gutierrez made one mistake, and that one mistake was accidental — putting a live round into that gun, » prosecutor Kari Morrissey told jurors during her closing argument. « This case is about constant, neverending, safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another. »
Morrissey told jurors Gutierrez failed to maintain firearms safety on the set, « making a fatal accident willful and foreseeable. »
She showed jurors stills of footage from the set of actors pointing firearms at other crew members, including a minor actor, as well as Gutierrez pointing one at her own face. She also showed photographs of what experts determined to be live rounds in holsters and containers on the set as early as Oct. 10, 2021.
Morrissey said that meant Gutierrez was not checking dummy rounds to ensure they were not live rounds — such as by shaking them — and that there was a game of « Russian roulette » every time an actor had a gun loaded with dummies. She also said they have « mountains of circumstantial evidence » that Gutierrez brought the live rounds onto the set.
