Afp Los Angeles
The Angels
Updated Thursday, March 7, 2024-01:04
The gunsmith from the film
Rust
, starring
Alec Baldwin
and during which the cinematographer was shot dead during filming, was found
guilty of involuntary manslaughter
by a New Mexico jury this Wednesday.
Hannah Gutierrez, who was in charge of overseeing weapons in jeans production, expressed no emotion when she heard the unanimous verdict, which the jury reached after two hours of deliberations.
The sentence is not due to be announced before April.
Gutierrez, who has always refuted the accusations, could face
more than a year in prison
on the charge.
Gutierrez's trial for the on-set shooting that killed director of photography
Halyna Hutchins
in 2021 lasted two weeks.
Hutchins died as a result of a shot from a Colt .45 that Baldwin brandished during a rehearsal in a church on the filming set in the state of New Mexico, in the southern United States.
The gun, contrary to expectations, had a real bullet.
Director
Joel Souza
was injured with the same projectile.
The trial focused on
how the bullet, one of several investigators found, arrived on the set,
something strictly prohibited by industry safety rules.
To know more
Cinema.
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to on-set manslaughter
Editorial: AFP Los Angeles
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to on-set manslaughter
Cinema.
Actor Alec Baldwin, accused again of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a participant in the filming of Rust
Editor: PABLO SCARPELLINI.
The Angels
Actor Alec Baldwin, accused again of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a participant in the filming of Rust
Without attention
The jury saw footage from filming in which
the actors handled weapons in a dangerous manner,
according to witnesses, without Gutierrez intervening, including a shot with Baldwin holding the gun as if it were a "targeting stick."
"This is not a case where Hannah Gutierrez made a mistake and that mistake was accidentally putting a loaded cartridge in that gun," prosecutor
Kari Morrissey
told jurors in her closing argument Wednesday.
"This case is about the constant and endless failures that resulted in the death of one human being and nearly killed another," he continued.
Morrissey said in the morning that when Hutchins was shot, the gunsmith, also known as Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was as usual
sloppy with her job supervising the more than 20 guns the production used,
and was not present when Baldwin and the team were preparing for a scene.
"He left the gun in the church, against all industry standards for gunsmiths on movie sets," Morrissey said.
"As they heard from several witnesses, she left her weapons unattended all the time. There was nothing unusual on October 21," the day of the fatal shooting, he said.
Gutierrez, Morrisey said,
brought real bullets to the set and failed to take basic precautions
to ensure the ammunition he put in the guns was inert, such as shaking them to hear the characteristic sound.
"Friends, if she didn't check the prop ammunition (...) to make sure those bullets (...) were in fact props,
this was Russian roulette every time an actor grabbed a gun,"
he told him. to the jury.
Scapegoat
The defense, led by
Jason Bowles,
said Gutierrez was a scapegoat for a production that
skimped on security
for financial reasons.
Gutierrez had no way of knowing that there was live ammunition on the set and was led to believe that the producers obtained prop bullets for the film, she maintained.
"The responsibility lies in production,
as in any organization. It starts at the top," he said.
"The powerful want to put this behind them and finish the movie. Make money."
"They have the right person to put that weight sitting here," she continued.
Gutierrez also faced a
charge of obstruction
of evidence for allegedly attempting to dispose of cocaine after the incident on set, but the jury found her not guilty.
Baldwin, one of the film's producers in addition to being the protagonist, is also accused of involuntary manslaughter and is due to go to trial in July.