How did a real bullet end up in a gun held by Alec Baldwin, on the set of the western Rust, and kill his director of photography? This is the whole question which promises to animate the trial of the armorer in the film from Wednesday.
During two weeks of hearings, American justice will try to determine the responsibility of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, responsible for managing the weapons on this production. Like Alec Baldwin, who must be tried later, this 26-year-old gunsmith is being prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter, a crime punishable by 18 months of imprisonment.
Also read: Fatal shooting of the film “Rust”: Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty
The filming of Rust turned into drama in October 2021 on a ranch in New Mexico, in the southwest of the United States. Alec Baldwin had pointed a weapon supposed to contain only blank bullets, but a very real projectile had killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injured the director.
This rare news item shocked Hollywood and provoked calls to ban firearms on sets. In this case, New Mexico prosecutors plan to charge Ms. Gutierrez-Reed with negligence, which could have led her to introduce live ammunition onto the set. According to the prosecution, the gunsmith consumed cocaine, cannabis and alcohol outside of her working hours, and was probably hungover on the day of the tragedy.
Also read: Fatal shooting of Alec Baldwin: “disturbing” text messages from the gunsmith intrigue the police
Prosecutors highlight in particular text messages where she talks about her drug use. But no toxicological analysis took place during the investigation, marked by numerous weaknesses and twists and turns. “They want the jury to assume that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed ingested cocaine at some point before going to work on October 21, 2021,” her lawyer Todd Bullion said last week, adding: “They don’t have no proof that this actually happened.
The gunsmith is also being prosecuted for tampering with evidence, as she is suspected of having given a bag of cocaine to a member of the filming to prevent investigators from finding it. His defense plans to argue that it was an accident caused by the pressure of producing the film, which was to be shot in just 21 days on a relatively modest budget of $7 million. The armorer had notably requested additional days to allow Alec Baldwin to train in handling weapons, but this request was rejected.
Rust star Alec Baldwin also served as a producer on the film. The 65-year-old actor denies pulling the trigger and has always maintained that he was assured his weapon was harmless. The involuntary manslaughter charges against him were first lifted last April, after new investigative elements could support the theory of an inadvertent shooting.
Also read: Fatal shooting on set: charges against Alec Baldwin formally dropped
But he was charged again in January. Because according to Variety magazine, a new assessment of the weapon in question, carried out this summer, concluded that it could only have been triggered by pressing the trigger. The date of her trial, separate from that of the gunsmith, has not yet been set. Another member of the filming has already been convicted in this case. The film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, received a six-month suspended prison sentence last March, after agreeing to plead guilty. He handed the gun at the heart of the drama to the actor, assuring him that it was not dangerous.
Filming on Rust has since resumed and been completed in Montana, with Halyna Hutchins’ widower Matthew serving as executive producer. At the end of 2022, he abandoned the civil proceedings he had initiated against Alec Baldwin at the end of an agreement the amount of which was not disclosed.
