'Rust' armourer denied new trial, conviction upheld for fatal shooting

A New Mexico judge on Monday denied “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s request for new trial and upheld her involuntary manslaughter conviction for the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Gutierrez Reed was ordered to remain in custody to serve the remainder of her 18-month sentence.

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The decision comes almost three years after Hutchins, 42, was killed by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the western film on October 21, 2021. The film’s director was also injured in the shooting.

Gutierrez Reed, who as armorer was in charge of firearms on the movie set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March.

At her trial, prosecutors argued she repeatedly violated safety protocol and was negligent in performing her duties, allowing six live rounds on to the set. Her defense attorney argued she was scapegoated for the safety failures of film set management and other crew members.

Baldwin was also charged with involuntary manslaughter and had pleaded not guilty.

At his trial in July, prosecutors alleged he violated the “cardinal rules of firearm safety” by pointing the prop gun at Hutchins and pulling the trigger, while the defense blamed the film’s armorer and the first assistant director for allowing a real bullet to be loaded into Baldwin’s prop gun.

But just days after his trial began, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw out the charges and ruled prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defense. The judge called the withholding of evidence “intentional and deliberate” and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

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Assistant film director David Halls took a plea deal in 2023 for his role in the shooting. He pleaded no contest to one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.

In their July motion, Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys had cited “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” and multiple allegations of “severe and ongoing discovery violations by the state” as the grounds for their request for a new trial or dismissal of her conviction.