'Rust' Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed To Stay In Prison Pending Judge's Decision

A judge has decided that "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will stay in prison - at least for the weekend - after a virtual hearing on September 26.

It took a jury less than three hours to find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In a virtual hearing hosted on YouTube on September 26, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's attorney Jason Bowles argued that the armorer should be freed from prison and that she should be granted a new trial due to revelations made during the trial of Alec Baldwin in July 2024. A crime scene technician testified that new ammunition was turned over that was concealed under a new case number, which meant that Baldwin's team had no chance to review it ahead of the trial. The judge decided that the only appropriate remedy was to completely drop the criminal case against Baldwin.

During the hearing, Gutierrez-Reed's attorney was quick to point out that they also did not have access to their evidence during their own trial, which began back in February. In his statement to the judge, he also requested that special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey be removed from the case. However, Morrissey argued that Bowles didn't provide any legal argument as to why she should be removed from the case. Furthermore, she also insisted that she did not see the new ammunition until July 12, at Baldwin's trial.

Morrissey also argued that she actually had discussions with Jason Bowles about the ammunition and informed him that she was not going to send someone to pick up the ammunition, and he decided not to. She also pointed out that Bowles did not ask Troy Teske, who provided the rounds, to testify during the trial. Likening it to a "strategic error," Morrissey says that the new evidence was not discovered after her trial, and thus there was no legal merit in dismissing her current conviction. She also slammed Bowles for failing to do his "due diligence" after his complaint that there was too much evidence to sort through in the brief period of time that he had before the trial.

The judge decided to consider the two motions separately. The first motion was whether or not to dismiss her current conviction and give her a new trial. The second motion was whether or not to release Hannah Gutierrez-Reed from prison. However, it is worth noting that if she is granted a new trial, there is a high likelihood that she would be automatically freed and there would be no need for a second hearing regarding that matter, as Bowles pointed out. Judge Sommer decided to take the weekend to decide the armorer's fate and declared that she would reach her decision early next week.

On October 21, 2021, a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin went off while rehearsing a scene inside a church in New Mexico. The gun, which contained a live bullet, killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and hospitalized director Joel Souza, who later recovered and testified at Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's trial. During his testimony, he emphasized that he did not believe hospital staff when they told him that he had been shot until he actually saw the bullet for himself.

During the trial, lead prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was hungover or impaired on the "Rust" set and presented text messages from the armorer's phone that implied that she was smoking marijuana. Allegations of the crew member's alleged drug use had been made public before her trial, leaving her legal team to unsuccessfully attempt to get the case dismissed based on a potentially prejudiced jury.

Even though it took a jury less than three hours to find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter, they acquitted her of a lesser charge of tampering with evidence. Prosecutors had accused Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of hiding cocaine on the day that Halyna Hutchins was killed and presented a witness who claimed that the "Rust" armorer asked them to hold onto a bag of white powder. This witness claims that the substance looked like cocaine and so she quickly threw it out in a hotel garbage can. The substance was never found or identified to be cocaine, and thus the jury found her not guilty of tampering with evidence.

The day after a jury found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of Halyna Hutchins' death, her mother, father, and sister made a statement through their attorney, Gloria Allred, who is representing the family in a civil lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and other "Rust" producers, alleging that Halyna Hutchins died due to lax safety standards on set.

Allred began the statement by saying, "Halyna’s parents and her sister have always wanted everyone who is responsible for Halyna’s death to be held accountable," adding, "Today was the first trial and conviction in the criminal justice process. We are satisfied that the jury, based on the evidence, found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for her part in the taking of Halyna’s life."

The statement went on to say, "We look forward to the justice system continuing to make sure that everyone else who is responsible for Halyna's death is required to face the legal consequences for their actions."

In January 2023, both Alec Baldwin and "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. However, in April 2023, the charges against the "30 Rock" actor were dismissed without prejudice while the FBI conducted tests on the firearm.

In December 2021, Baldwin insisted that he never pulled the trigger on the gun. However, in August 2022, the FBI concluded that the trigger had to have been pulled in order for the gun to go off, leading charges to be refiled in January 2024.

However, in July 2024, Baldwin's case was dismissed with prejudice after Judge Sommer concluded that Morrissey had worked with law enforcement officials to bury evidence - the Teske rounds - in what she determined to be a clear violation of the Brady rule. Although Baldwin can no longer be criminally charged for Hutchins' death, he and other "Rust" producers continue to face several civil lawsuits.