The armorer for the movie “The Last” who was responsible for the bullet that killed cinematographer Halina Hutchins has been found guilty of manslaughter.
A jury found that Hannah Gutierrez-Reid was indeed guilty when she loaded live ammunition into Alec Baldwin’s Colt .45 pistol on a movie set. The gun was to be loaded with only dummy bullets.
Baldwin fired his pistol during rehearsal, killing Hutchins.
Gutierrez-Reed faces up to 18 months in prison, but sentencing is scheduled for April 2024. variety report. However, she was acquitted of another charge of tampering with her evidence.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles argued that Gutierrez-Reed was vilified and made a scapegoat. new york post report. He tried to convince the jury that management was at fault for not giving Gutierrez-Reed enough time to do tasks such as checking the safety of dummy bullets.
During the trial, jurors were shown the police interrogation of Gutierrez-Redo in November 2021, during which they were shown an actual dummy left over from Gutierrez-Redo’s previous film, “The Old Way.” He said that he used it in “Last.” That was a few weeks ago.
“I checked the bag I was carrying and went back,” the armorer said. interview. “This bag had a lot of dummies in it. I went through them all and put them in two boxes. … They sat in my car for about two weeks.” she added.
Later in the interview, Gutierrez-Reid said he typically shakes each dummy bullet to see if it rattles. This is reportedly a safety feature that alerts the user that the bullet cannot be fired.
“I almost always make them all tremble,” Gutierrez-Reed said, words emphasized by prosecutors.
Producers testified against the armorer, saying she never asked for additional time and ignored a recording system to ensure the weapons were handled properly. TMZ said.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said in her closing statement that Gutierrez-Reed’s actions showed an “astonishing” lack of compliance with safety protocols and that she never properly tested the bullets. did.
After the trial, attorney Bowles said, “The evidence was not sufficient to convict.” “It was a lot of speculation and a lot of speculation,” he added. His lawyer said he plans to appeal the verdict.
According to Variety, Gutierrez-Reid was largely influenced by her father, Sel Reed, to take the job. All Reid is a legendary film armorer who worked on films such as “3:10 to Yuma.”
He was not called to testify, but was mentioned by ammunition supplier Seth Kenney, who was accused by the defense of supplying ammunition to the film.
According to the report, Kenney claimed that Gutierrez-Reed and his father were trying to claim that “there was live ammunition on set.” rust …Somehow we got through,” he said. deadline report.
“Knowing Tell and having been friends with him for several years at that point, I could see how much he loved his daughter,” Kenny said of the 81-year-old.
Alec Baldwin will stand trial for manslaughter in July 2024.
The defendant has maintained he did not pull the trigger, and the defense has questioned whether the gun was functioning properly at the time of the shooting.
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