A jury in Los Angeles has found movie set weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in 2021. Gutierrez-Reed was also acquitted of a charge of tampering with evidence. She now faces up to three years in prison, while actor Alec Baldwin, who also faces a manslaughter trial in relation to the incident, may benefit from this verdict.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed acted recklessly by failing to ensure that the gun used by Baldwin was loaded with only dummy rounds, resulting in the tragic death of Hutchins. They presented evidence that live bullets had mixed with dummy rounds in a box of ammunition brought by Gutierrez-Reed to the set from her California home. While Gutierrez-Reed did not testify in the trial, her attorney argued that she was not solely responsible for the shooting and blamed Baldwin, who was holding the gun when it fired.
The guilty verdict is likely to bring some closure to the tragic incident, which shook the entertainment industry and led to increased scrutiny of safety protocols on film sets. Hutchins’ death resulted in an outpouring of grief and support from the industry, with the film’s cast and crew finishing production in her honor. The verdict serves as a reminder of the importance of strict safety measures on movie sets to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
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