SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – The trial scheduled for next week for the movie weapons supervisor in Alec Baldwin’s shooting death of a cinematographer may hinge on an eternal mystery: How did live ammunition end up on a movie set? Was it brought into the country or was it explicitly prohibited?
Investigators recovered six live rounds, including the one that killed the man, from boxes, bandoliers, and gun belts on the set of the Western movie “The Last.” Director of Photography Halina Hutchins And coach Joel Souza was injured.
The special prosecutor has said he will present “substantive evidence” at trial. Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reid When she first started working on the film, she unknowingly brought live ammunition to the set.
The documents include photos showing the presence of live ammunition days before Hutchins was killed. They also plan to present testimony that Gutierrez-Reed sought and purchased live .45 caliber ammunition in the months before the shooting.
“MS. Gutierrez is not charged with intentional homicide, but is charged with negligent homicide,” Special Counsel Kari Morrissey said in a recent court filing. “Given that live ammunition was on set long before October 21, 2021, this tragedy occurred due to a series of negligent acts. Opportunities have been created.”
Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
Her lawyers have thinly described evidence that she may have unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set as falling far short of prosecution standards.
Her lawyers also accuse prosecutors of handing over privileged communications about the case to an Albuquerque-based dummy ammunition supplier called Rust, putting key trial witnesses at risk. They claim this vendor is the source of the live ammunition included in the sets.a Civil lawsuit brought by Gutierrez Reed The case against ammunition supplier Seth Kenney was dismissed in August and cannot be reinstated.
Much of the evidence regarding ammunition at the scene was culled from sources, including thousands of text messages between “The Last” crew, but has not been made public under general rules for pretrial discovery. do not have.
The suit against the armorer also affects Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer of “Rust.”he has Pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges The case could go to trial later this year. David Halls, Rust Assistant Director and Safety Coordinator Pleaded no contest to dangerous handling of a firearm. He agreed to cooperate with the investigation into the shooting incident and received a six-month suspended sentence.
Prosecutors have argued that Gutierrez-Reed ended up loading a gun Baldwin fired during an October 2021 rehearsal, killing Hutchins, and that the tragedy was the result of poor ammunition management. There is.
Baldwin said he believed someone else was responsible because the gun contained only inert dummy bullets that could not be fired.
However, the indictment against Baldwin presents two alternative standards of prosecution. One is based on the careless use of a firearm, and the other is related to negligence without due care or “vigilance,” also defined as “complete disregard or indifference to the safety of others.” is. Legal experts say the latter standard could expand the investigation beyond Baldwin’s handling of the gun. A date for Mr. Baldwin’s trial has not yet been set.
In “Rust” an operable revolver was used. The bulletin applied to “Rust” states that industry-wide guidelines state that “live ammunition may never be used or brought onto studio property or on stage.” It also states that “all firearms shall be treated as if they were loaded.”
Crew members also said Bonanza Creek Ranch, the location of the movie set where Hutchins was shot, prohibited live ammunition on its property.
State workplace safety regulators say Gutierrez-Reed allegedly stored, maintained and handled firearms and ammunition on set, and loaded firearms with blanks and inert dummy rounds that contained a charge but no projectile. He said he was responsible.
Live ammunition and dummy ammunition usually have small holes in the dummy brass cartridges to indicate that they do not contain explosives, missing primer or indentations in the bottom of the cartridge, and shaking the ammunition to detect BB bullets. It is distinguished by the audible clicking sound. This is what is inserted inside.
Live ammunition entered a US movie set, with serious consequences in a short period of time a few examples.
Actor Brandon Lee died in 1993 after being shot in the abdomen while filming the movie The Crow. Lee was killed by a makeshift bullet left in the gun at the previous scene. In the end, the producers ended up paying a $55,000 fine to federal regulators.
In 2005, federal regulators fined Greystone Television and Films $650 after a crew member was shot in the thigh, elbow and hand. It turned out that the balloon-popping birdshot bullet was in the same box as the blank gun that was supposed to be used in the rifle.
In New Mexico, painful report State regulators regarding the “Rust” shooting said the production company had not developed a process to ensure live ammunition was kept off set, giving armorers sufficient time to thoroughly conduct ammunition inventory checks. He said he had not given it.
Prosecutors want the regulator’s conclusions to be excluded from trial because they could be used to argue that “Rust” management, not Gutierrez-Reed, was responsible for the safety defects. I’m here.
Heated and derogatory exchanges between defense and prosecutors in recent pretrial court filings include accusations of “vindictive” and unconstitutional prosecution tactics. Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis are pursuing additional felonies. tampering with evidence Gutierrez-Reed passed a bag of possible drugs to another crew member to avoid prosecution in the aftermath of the shooting, and was videotaped bringing a gun to a bar in Santa Fe in the weeks before the shooting. It’s about the suspicion.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles said prosecutors were using the trumped-up charges to pressure director Gutierrez-Reid into making false confessions about the source of live ammunition on the film set.
“The state has always been willing to resolve Mr. Gutierrez’s case,” Special Counsel Morrissey said in a court filing. “The condition is that she accepts responsibility for the fact that Ms. Gutierrez unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set of “The Last”.”
