'Rust' Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's Legal Team SLAMS 'Unsupported' Drug Allegations
By Kristin Myers on July 13, 2023 at 3:52 PM EDT
Updated on July 13, 2023 at 3:53 PM EDT
The state's case against "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed just took another interesting turn.
Just last month, special prosecutors alleged that they found witnesses who claimed that the armorer was not only "hung over" on set the day that Halyna Hutchins was killed on October 21, 2021, but that she also transferred cocaine to another individual on the same day, resulting in an additional charge of evidence tampering.
In new court documents obtained by The Blast, her legal team said that the idea that Hannah will get a fair trial at this point is a "complete farce" due to all of the headlines being published about her alleged drug use. They believe that these "very prejudicial statements" against her will ultimately influence a potential juror to find her guilty.
‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s Legal Team Slams ‘Unsupported’ Drug Allegations
On July 10, Hannah’s legal team slammed “Rust” special prosecutors, alleging they have “unleashed a repeated deluge of very prejudicial statements” about the armorer. Her legal team claims that the statements made by the prosecutors were “designed to influence potential jurors as to her guilt.”
They claim other statements were “recklessly thrown out as unsupported rumors and innuendo.” They gave the example of when special prosecutors alleged that a witness told them that Hannah was drinking and using drugs on nights on set. They also alleged that she “was likely hung over” during the day that Hutchins was killed.
Her legal team slammed these “completely unsupported statements,” adding that the state has still not identified a single witness “to substantiate its reckless claims.” In addition, they also took aim at Hannah’s latest charge of alleged tamping of evidence by transferring an alleged unknown narcotic to another person. Although prosecutors say a witness told them Hannah handed off cocaine on the day Hutchins was killed, her legal team points out that the state has yet to identify a single witness who made this claim.
Gutierrez-Reed’s Legal Team Calls The Idea Of A 'Fair Trial' A ‘Complete Farce’
In the court documents, Bowles writes, “The State asks this Court to strike the supplemental filing by Ms. Gutierrez Reed, as untimely, but it could not have been filed before the state's most recent statements. The State wants free rein to recklessly taint the jury pool, but not allow Ms. Gutierrez Reed to respond in a timely fashion to those statements with motion practice.”
Her legal team goes on to say that “the idea that a fair trial is possible in this case is a complete farce at this point,” adding that the drinking, using, and now drug tampering allegations have now all made their way through the national media multiple times and it’s impossible to run a Google search on her name and not get pages and pages of stories on those unsupported allegations.”
Although special prosecutors claim that they have witnesses to support their claim that Hannah was drinking and using drugs on set, her legal team claims that they also have witnesses that claim that she was never hung over or impaired on the “Rust” set.
'Rust' Was Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's Second Job As An Armorer
During an interview on the "Voices of the West" podcast, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said that "Rust" was only the second time she had worked as a lead armorer on a film set. Her first experience was on the set of "The Old Way," which starred Nicolas Cage.
On the podcast, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed admitted that she almost did not take the job at first because she was concerned that it was too much for her to handle. "It was a really bada** way to start off a really long and cool career," she said at the time. "It was also my first time being head armorer as well. I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready. But doing it, like, it went really smoothly."
She went on to say that loading blanks were the “scariest” part of her job, saying, “I think loading blanks was the scariest thing to me because I was like, oh, I don't know anything about it.”
However, The Wrap reported that her time on “The Old Way” did not go smoothly. Stu Brumbaugh, who worked as a key grip on "The Old Way," told the outlet that Hannah’s behavior on set caused Nicolas Cage to scream at her after she fired a gun near the cast and crew for the second time in three days without warning.
