“Rust” weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed convicted of involuntary manslaughter in accidental shooting

The weapons supervisor on the set of “Rust” who was accused of loading the prop gun that Alec Baldwin used to accidentally shoot and kill cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. She was acquitted on a charge of evidence tampering.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had pleaded not guilty to both charges. Baldwin, who was pointing the gun at Hutchins when it went off, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured in the incident. Souza testified in Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, speaking emotionally about the incident.

Gutierrez-Reed faces up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine for the charge of involuntary manslaughter. She will be sentenced at a later date. Guttierrez-Reed was taken into custody after the verdicts were read.  

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, told CBS News he plans to appeal “a number of issues that occurred in the trial.”

Much of the trial focused on the source of six live bullets that were found on the set of “Rust,” including the one fired from the prop gun that Baldwin was holding. Both Hutchins and Souza were struck by the live bullet, which had somehow been loaded into the prop gun. The production was only supposed to be using dummy ammunition. Live ammunition is expressly prohibited on movie sets by the industry and union guidelines.

Gloria Allred and John Carpenter, attorneys for Hutchins’ parents and sister, told CBS News in a statement Wednesday evening that Hutchins’ family was “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. 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.”

Prosecutors alleged that Gutierrez-Reed brought live ammunition onto the set of the Western, noting that the live ammunition does not match bullets seized from the film’s Albuquerque ammunition supplier, and treated basic weapons safety protocols as optional. Defense attorneys argued that problems on the set were beyond Gutierrez-Reed’s control and that the main supplier of ammunition had not been properly investigated. 

The film’s ammunition supplier testified Tuesday he had only provided dummy rounds to “Rust,” but said he had been dealing with live ammunition rounds for another production at the same time. 

David Halls, the safety coordinator on the set of “Rust,” testified earlier in the trial that Gutierrez-Reed had twice handed the revolver to Baldwin. Once, the gun was empty. The second time, it was loaded with both dummy rounds and a live bullet. Halls, who pleaded no contest last year to negligent use of a firearm and completed six months of unsupervised parole, testified that he and Gutierrez-Reed performed a rudimentary safety check before handing the gun to Baldwin the second time. 

Halls’ statement conflicted with other comments made about the shooting: Gutierrez-Reed did not testify, but told investigators after the shooting that she had handed the gun to Halls and left the filming area. Baldwin initially told investigators that Gutierrez-Reed handed him the weapon, but later said it was Halls who had done so. 

Gutierrez-Reed said that she did not know how the live ammunition ended up in the gun in a November 2021 statement released through her lawyers. In the statement, she said she had completed a full safety check of the gun before handing it to Hall. 

“No one could have anticipated or thought that someone would introduce live rounds into this set,” Gutierrez-Reed’s statement said.

Speaking to reporters, one juror said the main reason they chose to convict Gutierrez-Reed was for “not checking the weapons.”

“If you have live rounds and you don’t even know it and you’re not checking them? There’s a problem,” Albert Sanchez said outside the courthouse. 

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer on the gun, but did not pull the trigger. Gutierrez-Reed’s statement said that she told actors not to point guns at other people on set.

The second charge of evidence tampering stems from allegations that Gutierrez-Reed handed a small bag of what might have been narcotics to another crew member on the film set to avoid detection after the shooting, according to the Associated Press. 

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.