Posted on 03/07/2024 6:09:25 AM PST by Red Badger
A New Mexico jury found “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter, Wednesday.
She was found not guilty of tampering with evidence, according to NBC News. The jurors deliberated for about two and a half hours before reaching their verdict. The 26-year-old will now face up to 18 years of prison, to be determined at an as-yet unscheduled sentencing hearing. The judge ordered that Gutierrez-Reed be taken into custody immediately, where she will be held until her sentencing, according to NBC News.
Juror Albert Sanchez said “pretty much not checking the weapons” was the major factor that led him to make his decision in the Gutierrez-Reed case.
“Just handing them over, like ‘here.’ Not checking — that was a big deal,” Sanchez said.
He went on to explain his reaction to that aspect of the case by saying, “I mean, you can’t do that. And if you have live rounds there, and you don’t even know it?” according to NBC News.
Special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey told the jury that Gutierrez-Reed “was negligent, she was careless, she was thoughtless,” during the prosecution’s closing arguments. He went on to say Gutierrez-Reed was more “worried about her career” than the victims in this case, according to NBC News.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles pushed back by saying the prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gutierrez-Reed was the person responsible for bringing live rounds to the “Rust” movie set. He went on to allege Baldwin was the person responsible for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins because he was ultimately the one who pulled the trigger. The same bullet also injured director Joel Souza.
“I submit to you what caused her death is Mr. Baldwin going off script. No one ever knew there would be a live round on set,” Bowles said. “The only act is the pointing of the weapon. Ms Gutierrez didn’t point that weapon.”
Gutierrez-Reed maintained a neutral facial expression and showed little emotion as the jury foreperson read the verdicts aloud.
She reportedly took off her necklace before a deputy took her into custody.
Baldwin trial starts in July.
I watched her trial and learned she handed the pistol to David Halls. He handed it to Baldwin, and told him it was a cold gun. HG was not in the church when Baldwin shot the director, but she was supposed to be. An armorer is supposed to be present whenever a firearm is used. Halls took a plea deal, HG was offered one but turned it down because she refused to disclose where the live ammo came from. She was sloppy and negligent. Nicolas Cage voiced his concern about her when she worked on a film with him prior to Rust.
The jury got it right. Eighteen months is max sentence.
“Do the blank rounds they use in movies have “bullets” attached to them for looks but don’t go downrange? Would it be obvious to Baldwin that a round was live and not a blank?”
Blanks don’t have bullets. Dummy rounds do so they look realistic to the viewers.
“Why was Baldwin pointing the gun at the victim? She wasn’t an actress or stand in.”
He was practicing his draw oblivious to those nearby.
There were like 11 “Producers”. There was an Executive Producer who ran things. Baldwin had nothing to do with management.
There were apparently crew members using the cool replica to shoot cans or whatever and that is probably how live ammunition got involved. The “armorer” did not hand the weapon to Baldwin. Of course, armorer was only part of her job. She was also a costume assistant. There seemed to be sloppy handling of fire arms and ammunition, which was her and others fault.
Baldwin was not the only one who messed up. However, it seems likely he pointed and fired the gun at the victim as a joke or threat, assuming it was not loaded.
“It was reported that some of the crew were target shooting with the gun prior to the incident on set..............”
Ah, so.... some idiots bring live ammo in, mix it in with the fake ammo in the prop box... and get off scot free? Who is the one responsible for allowing the crew to “target practice” on set? The victim?
Well given that her father is a very prominent armorer in the Hollywood movie industry for decades, I would assume she got her experience from him.
*SHE* did not hand it over to Baldwin. The assistant producer got it off her cart and handed it to Baldwin without checking it, while telling Badlwin the gun was "cold" which is movie speak for "not dangerous."
Baldwin should have checked it also.
Which is a requirement of the set rules that Baldwin ignored.
What was that evidence?
She alleges the live rounds came in the supply of the prop bullets ordered from the prop supply company.
It does seem that some of the information about Baldwin and his role as one of the producers has been overblown.
D.A. and OSHA Disagree on Alec Baldwin’s Culpability as ‘Rust’ Producer
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/alec-baldwin-rust-producer-da-osha-1235531157/
She has said the live rounds came in the shipment of dummy rounds from the prop supplier. The owner of the prop supply company has denied her assertion.
Of course each would try to implicate the other to get themselves out of trouble.
Who reported it, and is it even true?
I supposed the Sheriff's department found out if that was true or not, but I believe they also found other live rounds in the box of prop ammunition.
How did live rounds get into a box of dummy ammunition?
She says the supplier did it. He says he didn't.
Ruh-Roh, Raggy!.................. 🤦♂️
You saw that in the trial? She said prior to the trial that the live ammo came in the box from the prop supplier.
She was very much disclosing that the prop supplier is where the live rounds came from prior to the trial.
This was a workplace accident caused by negligence. I have been responsible for writing contracts and subcontracts requiring and then enforcing on-site workplace safety that were ten times the budget of this film.
You use safety officers, safety experts, safety gear, safety training and safety procedures. Failure to have the EFFECTIVE safety culture and then having a fatal accident would start with me as the Project Officer.
Alex Baldwin was the Producer and the on-site person in charge of all aspects of this film project. He hired and managed all staff and people on site. This is in addition to his culpability of holding, operating and firing the killing round when the weapon was “under his care, custody and control.” (term of art in insurance and similar issues of responsibility)
He hired the trainee Armorer, he supervised her, he hurried her, he hired and supervised all other safety people. He held originating and final responsibility for this event.
Previous accidental discharges would have required in any safety culture the (1) All stop Safety Shutdown, (2) Full Safety retraining of all involved parties, (3) Augmentation and replacement of culpable staff, (4) Institution of new Safety Procedures for all use of weapons. Since NONE of this was done by Baldwin it virtually guaranteed the eventual death. It was so obviously going to happen that people left the project. Not due to armourer, not due to assistant director but instead due to top management — Baldwin.
Baldwin was not top management. He was given the title Producer because he was the lead actor. There were 11 “Producers”. Baldwin had nothing to do with management. Some people want to blame him for everything. He didn’t check the gun and maybe was close to guilty of murder if he deliberately fired it, but he wasn’t the manager at all.
You should look at the article linked to in post 89.
Baldwin was not everything, he was one of the many producers.
I have worked at some rather large companies with 500-1000 employees on site.
Two of the companies had Safety Officers. On was a late middle aged ready-to-retire type guy who could barely walk around the plant and had several other ‘jobs’ in house before they stuck him in that position until he retired.
The other was an obvious Affirmative Action placeholder that never left her office.
So, it has been my experience that companies are not really serious when it comes to safety and just give it lip-service only when necessary.
At the second company, we had a fatal accident when a roofing contractor inadvertently stepped on a skylight panel on a very large aircraft hangar while inspecting the roof for repairs, and the poor young man fell 30 feet to his death.
I don’t know whatever happened afterwards since I left that company just a couple days later. I do recall that there was some sort of inquest...................
They obviously weren’t taking safety seriously, giving the job of armorer to this 24-year-old girl, who was also a costume assistant. They were probably not paying her much. That and other issues were management errors, which had nothing to do with Baldwin.
Baldwin is the Producer.
He’s ultimately responsible for everything..............
My projects were large commercial, institutional and government projects. Full time, trained, professional safety officer on each job of 10 to 800 million. Sometimes with subcontractor’s staff we might have 3 to 6 safety pros plus foremen on a critical pick or craft startup.
We had a multi story where one 2 x 4 was dropped from ten stories by inattention. Our Owner shut the job down for a day and a half and paid 200 men high wages to met and discuss how they could be sure everyone on or near our project went home safe. He personally talked at length with every workman until he had the culture he wanted.
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