Rust: Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will stay in jail; motion for new trial denied

After being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins following a two-week-long trial, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will remain in jail while awaiting sentencing.

During a virtual hearing on motions filed by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s defence team for her release from jail and a new trial, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said, “Keep in mind there was a death that the jury determined was caused by her, so I’m not releasing her.” Judge Sommer also denied the motion for a new trial. Gutierrez-Reed faces a sentence of up to 18 months and $5000 in fines. She is set to be sentenced on April 15th.

During the production of Rust, a live round was discharged from a revolver used by Alec Baldwin, which killed Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. The prosecution claimed that it was Gutierrez-Reed, who they alleged was wildly negligent, who was responsible for six live rounds getting onto the set. “She had six, six live rounds on that movie set, the earliest date that I can track them for you is October 10,” said special prosecutor Kari Morrissey during closing arguments. “Six, and she failed to ferret them out for 12 days. What that means is that she wasn’t shaking any dummy rounds, she wasn’t testing anything.“

Morrissey continued, “If she’s not checking the dummy ammunition during the pendency of the filming to make sure that those rounds that are designed to look like live rounds are in fact dummy rounds, this was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies.“

Alec Baldwin is also facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, with his trial set to begin in July. Morrissey mentioned the actor in her closing statements: “Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety … on that day is something that he’s going to have to answer for. Not with you and not today,” she said. “That will be with another jury, on another day.” Baldwin has pled not guilty to the charges and has maintained that he did not pull the trigger.