'Rust' Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Gets Hearing Date For Potential New Trial

"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has received a hearing date for a possible new trial.

The 27-year-old armorer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March 2023, only a few months before Alec Baldwin saw his involuntary manslaughter trial dismissed when a judge determined that law enforcement officials worked with the prosecution to conceal evidence from his lawyers.

Both Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the October 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died on the set of the Western film.

Following the end of Alec Baldwin's highly publicized trial, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is hoping that she will get a new "Rust" trial or potentially even have her guilty verdict dismissed. Despite this being her first offense, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer - who also presided over Baldwin's trial - sentenced the rookie armorer to the state maximum of 18 months behind bars after she felt that Gutierrez-Reed showed no remorse for Hutchins' death in phone calls recorded from prison that insulted the jury.

Although her appeal has been met with frequent legal delays, Gutierrez-Reed has an online online hearing set for September 27 at 3:30 PM EST, as reported by Newsweek. The court will consider her motion asking for an immediate release from detention and her motion to either get a new trial or have the old one dismissed. The hearing will be streamed live on the YouTube channel for the New Mexico court system.

Although Hannah Gutierrez-Reed pleaded not guilty, a 12-person jury found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter in less than three hours. She was acquitted of a lesser charge of tampering with evidence that had been added several months after the initial charge of involuntary manslaughter. A witness came forward claiming that the former "Rust" armorer handed her a bag of white powder on the day that Hutchins was killed. However, the witness claimed that they immediately threw the bag into the garbage can in a hotel lobby where the crew was staying. Although the prosecution argued that this white powder was believed to be cocaine, the bag of white powder was never found and the substance was never identified.

Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer, Jason Bowles, had previously argued that she was being used as a "scapegoat" throughout the trial. "They're trying to blame it all on Hannah, a 24-year-old," Bowles said at the time of her trial. "Because why? Because she's an easy target. She's the least powerful person on that set."

In July, Alec Baldwin's trial was dismissed on the third day of witness testimony after Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed with the defense that the prosecution had violated the Brady Rule and worked with law enforcement officials to bury evidence that could have been helpful to the defense. She ruled that, as a result of the misconduct, the only acceptable remedy was to dismiss Baldwin's trial with prejudice, meaning that he could no longer be criminally responsible for Halyna Hutchins' death. He and several other "Rust" producers are, however, still facing several civil lawsuits.

The week after Baldwin's trial was dismissed, Jason Bowles filed a motion also accusing special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey of withholding evidence in their own trial. "There can be no legitimate debate that the state violated Ms. Gutierrez's due process rights," Bowles wrote in his motion, asking the judge to "order a new trial or dismissal of the case for egregious prosecutorial misconduct. The Court should also order Ms. Gutierrez's release." That hearing has now been scheduled for September, with the possibility of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed getting an immediate release from prison.

Director Joel Souza recently spoke toVanity Fairabout the fatal shooting and admitted that he didn’t know if justice had been served when it came to Halyna Hutchins' death. “I don’t know, and I don’t know what that even is anymore — I’ll be very honest with you about that,” he said. “No one feels good about someone going to jail. If you feel good about that, take a hard look in the mirror.”

He also did not want to comment on whether or not it was "fair" for charges to be filed against both the armorer and the film's main star.

“Does it matter if I think it’s fair or not? There is an argument that says, if he checks it and starts fiddling around with it, he’s creating a safety issue. And then there is another thing that says, it’s common sense, Jesus Christ. Be careful with this godd-mn thing,” he said. “So I don’t know anymore, to be honest with you. The charges got filed. That’s what they decided to do. Was he overcharged? I don’t know.”

After the fatal shooting in October 2021, "Rust" left New Mexico for Montana and finished the film with a new cinematographer. Although Alec Baldwin returned to star and Joel Souza returned to direct, he admitted that “there was a very long period of time where I thought I was just done ever doing this for a living.” However, he decided to return in order to help Halyna Hutchins' family.

“I knew that the movie being finished would financially benefit Halyna’s family, which is very important to me,” he explained. “And I know this can sound trite for people who aren’t creative, but her last work matters. People seeing her last work matters. That was the tipping point for me in the decision.”