Prosecutors Call 'Rust' Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed 'Negligent' In Closing Statements

Wednesday marked the tenth day in the trial against "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The defense presented their first witness on Tuesday and concluded on Wednesday, where closing arguments were heard. The case is now in the hands of the jury, who could decide the rookie armorer's fate by the end of the week.

This case is separate from the criminal charges facing actor Alec Baldwin, who was holding the gun during the shooting on October 21, 2021. His trial, also to be presided over by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, is scheduled for July 9, 2024.

On Wednesday, after briefly hearing from movie set safety expert PJ Pesce, the defense rested its case. After Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer read the jury instructions, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey began making the state’s closing statement, emphasizing that the rookie armorer had a “complete lack of understanding of her role of safety on this movie set.”

“Her entire job is to be responsible for exactly that,” she continued, calling Gutierrez-Reed “negligent,” “careless,” and “thoughtless.” She led the jury through a slideshow of “circumstantial evidence” to support the state’s position that Gutierrez-Reed was the one who brought live ammunition to set, despite the defense arguing that it was the fault of ammunition supplier Seth Kenney.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had only worked on one other film set before “Rust”: A Nicolas Cage movie called “The Old Way.” Morrissey alleged that “Hannah brought left-over dummies for that movie on the set of Rust, and those .45 Colt dummy rounds were provided by Thell Reed,” referring to her stepfather, a veteran film gun coach.

Morrissey went on to say that the defense team took a “shotgun approach to this case,” attempting to blame Alec Baldwin and “Rust” producers for cutting costs on set. Morrisey called the “30 Rock” actor a “prima donna,” adding, “I’m not saying his conduct is right. I’m the person who indicted him.”

“Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety in the church that day is something he’s going to have to answer for,” she added, referencing Baldwin’s own involuntary manslaughter trial currently scheduled for July 9. “Not with you, not today, that’s for another jury for another day,” she said in comments transcribed by Deadline.

While she maintained that there was “an astonishing lack of diligence with regard to gun safety” from Alec Baldwin and other crew members on the “Rust” set, she emphasized that he will have his own day in court later this year and encouraged the jury to focus on Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

After the prosecution had rested their case, lead defense lawyer Jason Bowles told the jury that “Justice for Halyna does not mean injustice for Hannah.” He went on to say,  “There’s reasonable doubt she had anything to do ultimately with Halyna Hutchins’ death. In this country, we can’t decide and convict people on guesses.”

“It’s extremely important the government rule out every reasonable doubt because that is our standard in this country,” he continued during his closing argument. “Hannah is a scapegoat for all the management failures.”

Bowles claimed that the prosecution “rushed to judgment on Ms. Gutierrez-Reed,” calling her a “convenient scapegoat” and noting that they wanted to “lay the complete blame on her.”

He went on to cite New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau’s report, which noted that the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins was “an accident, not a homicide.” Bowles told the jury, “OSHA didn’t buy it. OSHA said it was the higher-ups.”

Noting that Baldwin, who also served as a producer on the film, kept “going off-script,” Bowles noted that “The buck stops with production,” adding, “As in any organization, it stops at the top.”

“The government has to resolve all the reasonable doubt […] or we cannot convict,” he told the jury; however, during her rebuttal, she told the jury “You have everything you need to convict her.” She later added, “Her acts caused the death of Halyna Hutchins.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed faces up to three years in state prison if found guilty.