'Rust' armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed pleads not guilty; trial date set
In this image from video provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, movie set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, right, speaks with a sheriff’s deputy as a colleague stands next to her on the set of the western move “Rust,” shortly after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021, in New Mexico. Credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the ill-fated Western movie “Rust,” and the sole person charged in the accidental shooting death of its cinematographer when a prop gun’s live round discharged, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.
In a “Waiver of Arraignment and Entry of Plea of Not Guilty” filed Monday in the First Judicial District Court of the state of New Mexico, Gutierrez-Reed confirmed that, “I hereby give up my right to personally appear before the District Court for arraignment and I hereby enter a plea of not guilty to” the criminal charges.
On Oct. 21, 2021, while filming the independent movie “Rust” in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, producer-star Alec Baldwin held a prop revolver on set after being assured by Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls that it was a "cold gun" containing no live rounds. A live round nonetheless accidentally discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding writer-director Joel Souza.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed each were charged with involuntary manslaughter on Jan. 31 of this year. Prosecutors on April 21 dropped charges against Amityville-born and Massapequa-raised Emmy Award winner Baldwin, citing new evidence.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Aug. 1 denied a motion to dismiss charges against Gutierrez-Reed. The charges by then had been amended to include tampering with evidence, added in June when prosecutors, citing an anonymous witness, alleged Gutierrez-Reed had transferred a small amount of cocaine to that person after returning from a police interview on the day of the shooting.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles — who in May had objected to prosecutors’ “tainting the jury pool” with frequent media appearances discussing the case — called the charge “character assassination,” telling CNN, “A secret witness who suddenly appears 20 months later? Where’s the actual evidence of anything?”
In a hearing Wednesday, the judge entered a scheduling order setting jury selection for Dec. 5 and trial dates of Dec. 6-15.
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