'Rust' Armorer Guilty Of Manslaughter In Alec Baldwin Shooting

SANTA FE, NM — Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for "Rust" who put a live round in the gun Alec Baldwin was using for rehearsal on the film's set, was found guilty Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to multiple reports.

The jury's verdict against Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm.

Gutierrez-Reed could be sentenced to as much as 18 months in prison, according to The New York Times, which noted a sentencing date had not been set as of Wednesday afternoon. The charge also carries a $5,000 fine, according to CNN.

The jury reached its verdict easily following two-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the Times reported.

Immediately after the verdict was read in court, the judge ordered the defendant to be placed in the custody of deputies.

Gutierrez-Reed also had faced a second charge, of evidence tampering, stemming from accusations that she handed a small bag of possible narcotics to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection. She was found not guilty on that charge.

Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on "Rust," was indicted by a grand jury in January on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was pointing a gun at Hutchins on the movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

The actor has remained adamant he did not pull the trigger, according to CNN.

The proceedings were a preamble to Baldwin's scheduled trial in July on the single charge of involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty.

Gutierrez-Reed's trial lasted two weeks, the Times reported, noting she did not take the stand.

Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set of "Rust" at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, arguing that rounds lingered for at least 12 days until the fatal shooting.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey described "constant, never-ending safety failures" on the set of "Rust" and Gutierrez-Reed's "astonishing lack of diligence" with gun safety. Prosecutors contend the armorer repeatedly skipped or skimped on standard gun-safety protocols that might have detected the live rounds.

"This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies," Morrissey said.

Defense attorneys said the problems on the set extended far beyond Gutierrez-Reed's control, including the mishandling of weapons by Baldwin. At trial, they cited sanctions and findings by state workplace safety investigators.

Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw when the Colt .45 revolver fired the lethal round Oct. 21, 2021, in a church on the film set of the Western, according to ABC News.

Gutierrez-Reed, who is 26, was a "convenient scapegoat," the defense contended during closing arguments, ABC News reported.

Prosecutors did not come close to proving where the live rounds originated and failed to fully investigate an Albuquerque-based ammunition supplier, the defense said at trial.

Lead attorney Jason Bowles told jurors that no one in the cast and crew thought there were live rounds on set and Gutierrez-Reed could not have foreseen that Baldwin would "go off-script" when he pointed the revolver at Hutchins. Investigators found no video recordings of the shooting.

On the day of the shooting, Bowles said, Gutierrez-Reed alone was segregated in a police car away from others.

"You had a production company on a shoestring budget, an A-list actor that was really running the show," Bowles said. "At the end, they had somebody they could all blame."

Bowles began his closing arguments by highlighting testimony from "Rust" armorer Sarah Zachry saying that, in a panic in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, she threw out ammunition from guns used by actors other than Baldwin. That undermined all evidence about the sources of ammunition, the defense argued.

Prosecutors said six live rounds found on set bear mostly identical characteristics and don't match live rounds seized from the movie's supplier in Albuquerque. Defense attorneys said the cluttered supply office was not searched until a month after the shooting, undermining the significance of physical evidence.

Gutierrez-Reed plans to appeal the verdict, according to the Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.