‘Rust’ Armorer’s Lawyer Opens Trial by Laying Blame on Alec Baldwin
The trial for Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence if convicted, began on Thursday with the prosecution arguing that the defendant was “unprofessional and sloppy.” Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer, meanwhile, used his opening statement to blame Alec Baldwin as both a producer of the film and the actor who allegedly pulled the trigger.
Prosecutor Jason Lewis contested that Gutierrez-Reed, who managed weaponry on the set of the Western film, “acted negligently and without caution” on the day that Baldwin discharged a gun that fatally struck 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
“You’re going to hear that on the day of the shooting, Ms. Gutierrez loaded the gun in the morning with five rounds,” Lewis said. “Ms. Gutierrez then took the firearm to the church and handed the gun over to the first assistant director, whose name is Dave Halls. Ms. Gutierrez and Mr. Halls then did a sloppy and incomplete safety check of the gun where the dummy rounds were not removed from the gun, and rattled or checked to see if they had a hole drilled in it.”