Rust Shooting Reveals Armorer Offered Deal If She Told One Thing
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who is currently set to go on trial next month for the Rust shooting, has an opportunity to see a reduced sentence for mishandling the firearm that took the life of Halyna Hutchins. As the prosecuting party put it, if Gutierrez-Reed cooperates and offers insight as to how a live round made its way onto the movie set, she will see a more favorable outcome. Conversely, if she pleads the Fifth and stays silent on the matter, additional charges will be considered in her sentencing.
This isn’t the first time Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been involved in an on-set incident of this nature.
Since Gutierrez-Reed’s responsibility as an armorer is to evaluate the prop weapons to make sure they’re safe for production, the prosecution has reason to believe that she has inside knowledge on the matter.
Not only did Alec Baldwin’s gun fire the fatal bullet that should have been a dummy round, but the investigation that followed also revealed that there were several other live rounds recovered from the set. When asked in the past where the rounds came from, Gutierrez-Reed couldn’t, or wouldn’t provide an answer.
If Gutierrez-Reed cooperates and offers insight as to how a live round made its way onto the Rust movie set, she will see a more favorable outcome.
In the immediate wake of the Rust shooting, Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary slaughter. Those charges have since been dropped. Though possible new evidence suggested that Baldwin wasn’t completely off the hook, the case was never presented to a grand jury within the appropriate time frame and no further charges were filed.
Gutierrez-Reed’s defense attorney, Jason Bowles, has gone on record stating that the prosecution is trying to force the armorer to give up her Fifth Amendment rights in regard to the Rust shooting. While it’s clear that Gutierrez-Reed’s cooperation would give her a more favorable outcome, it’s will within her rights to stay silent on the matter.
Shortly after the Rust shooting, Gutierrez-Reed was also indicted on a charge of carrying a firearm into a liquor establishment, which is fourth degree felony. Bowles argued this past Thursday that the charge was filled in bad-faith as a revenge tactic because Gutierrez-Reed didn’t comply with the request to reveal the source of the live rounds. What’s more, Bowles asserts that this case is wholly unrelated to the Rust shooting since it was a separate isolated incident.
If she [Gutierrez-Reed] pleads the Fifth and stays silent on the matter, additional charges will be considered in her sentencing.
The Rust shooting investigation is also problematic in the sense that Gutierrez-Reed’s cellphone was searched beyond the scope of the initial charges. In other words, anything that incriminates Gutierrez-Reed outside of the actual on-set shooting that occurred shouldn’t be considered relevant to her sentencing.
If found guilty for her involvement in the Rust shooting, Gutierrez-Reed faces up to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.
Since Gutierrez-Reed’s responsibility as an armorer is to evaluate the prop weapons to make sure they’re safe for production, the prosecution has reason to believe that she has inside knowledge on the matter.
And this isn’t the first time Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been involved in an on-set incident of this nature. Around the same time as the Rust shooting, another incident occurred on the set of Nicolas Cage‘s The Old Way, which was in production during the same time-frame. In October 2021, Cage walked off set after Gutierrez-Reed discharged a weapon without warning.
For context, the Rust shooting happened on October 21, 2021.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will go on trial for the Rust shooting next month in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and we’ll provide more updates as further developments materialize.
Source: Variety
