‘Rust’ Prosecutors Allege Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Brought Live Ammunition Onto Set

The criminal trial for "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is scheduled to begin next month after being delayed from December 2023.

The rookie armorer is facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She has also been charged with tampering with evidence after prosecutors claimed that they found a witness who told them that she "transferred" narcotics to another individual on the day Hutchins died, thus impeding the police investigation.

According to new court documents obtained by The Blast, prosecutors do not want her to be allowed to mention the safety violations that the set faced during her trial, fearing that she may try to use it to excuse her own culpability in Halyna Hutchins' death.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis are asking a judge to exclude evidence and testimony related to the findings of the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB).

“After the fatal shooting on the set of Rust, OSHB conducted an investigation and determined that Rust Management failed to ensure proper safety procedures on the set as they pertain to firearms,” the filing states, noting that the “Rust” production company was fined $100,000.00.

They cite Rule 11-403, which states that “The court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger of one or more of the following: unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.”

The prosecutors argue that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for firearms and firearm safety on set, which included tasks such as: “the safe keeping of firearms, cleaning of firearms, firearms training of the cast of Rust and loading and unloading prop guns (in this case real functioning firearms (with dummy and blank ammunition). In this role, the primary goal of an armorer is to ensure that no one is injured by a prop gun.”

“Obviously, Ms. Gutierrez failed to ensure that the gun handed to Alec Baldwin was loaded solely with dummy rounds. Moreover, live ammunition is strictly prohibited from being present on movie sets and Ms. Gutierrez was responsible for all of the ammunition on set,” the filing continues, going on to say that the state has “developed significant evidence” that she brought a box of “dummy” ammunition to the set that contained both dummy and live rounds.

“This is the box of ammunition that Ms. Gutierrez was obtaining rounds from on October 21, 2021, and Ms. Gutierrez acknowledged this during her interview with Santa Fe County Sheriff’s detectives in November 2021,” the court documents state, noting that dummy and live rounds are “visibly dissimilar.”

The court documents allege that “Ms. Gutierrez was unable to distinguish between the two and inserted a live round in the prop gun being used by Alec Baldwin’s character. Mr. Baldwin manipulated the gun during a pre-filming procedure called ‘blocking’ and the gun discharged.”

The state is concerned that she will try to “use the findings by OSHB to try to minimize her culpability and argue that she is not responsible for the shooting and that Rust Management is responsible for safety violations.”

They go on to say that the jury will be asked to determine if she is “guilty of involuntary manslaughter for putting a live round (from a box of dummy rounds that she brought on the set of Rust that was going to be used by an actor in a movie. Although the OSHB findings do not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, they do need to find that an employer demonstrated “plain indifference” to workplace safety.

The state feels that the evidence and testimony will only result in confusion for the jury and result in a “highly prejudicial” environment. They note that she may call witnesses to testify to her defense, but feel that presenting evidence of a separate legal proceeding with “findings established by a lesser legal standard should be excluded.

“Simply put, the jury may be confused by evidence that indicates that a legal finding was issued against Rust Management for safety failures on set while trying to determine whether Ms. Gutierrez is guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter for her own failure to ensure the firearm was safe to be used as a prop by an actor on a movie set,” the filing states, going on to conclude that the state “respectfully requests all evidence and testimony of the OSHB findings be excluded” from her court case.