ANALYSIS – Scapegoat or culpable? Movie set armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a gun she loaded with a live round was passed to actor Alec Baldwin – who later fired it, killing a “Rust” crew member – cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Meanwhile, Baldwin is facing his own trial later this summer, where he also faces manslaughter charges. He has pled not guilty, but this trial may be a harbinger of what's to come for Baldwin. The same special prosecutor in this case, Kari Morrissey, said that Baldwin's also to blame for the shooting. (RELATED: Shocking Report Exposes Baldwin's Lies – Will Prosecutors Respond?)
The incident occurred on the New Mexico location of Baldwin's low-budget western “Rust” – a popular setting seen in the likes of Jimmy Stewart's 1955 “The Man from Laramie” and Paul Newman and Robert Redford's 1969 “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
On October 21, 2021, as the crew worked out positions for a scene inside a wooden chapel, Baldwin, playing a grizzled 1880s Kansas outlaw, fired a live round from an Italian-made fully functioning replica of a Pietta Long Colt revolver – the bullet passing through Hutchins' chest and lodging in director Joel Souza's shoulder.
Hutchins died in flight to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, while Souza was later discharged from hospital. The prosecution's case here centered on the armorer being careless on the set – to the point of professional negligence. After a two-week trial, the jury agreed.
Gutierrez-Reed's conviction carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison, and she was remanded to custody immediately going straight to jail from the courthouse. Sentencing is still pending and it's unclear how much time she'll end up serving. (RELATED: Oscar Winner Susan Sarandon Ruins Legacy With Impressively Bad Take)
Was the young and inexperienced Gutierrez-Reed turned into scapegoat for Baldwin's poor judgment and reckless actions? Or was she truly culpable, for at least the charge of involuntary manslaughter?
I would argue that as the set's armorer, she was responsible for ensuring gun safety on the set, and she should have confirmed every round loaded into any gun was a blank or dummy round. She should have stood up to Baldwin when he was being reckless.
Or she shouldn't have taken the job. So, she bears some responsibility, and the ruling seems fair – as long as she isn't the patsy.
Because there was plenty of blame to go around.
As Emily Miller noted, referring to the prosecutor's comments:
“Dave Halls [The first assistant director for ‘Rust'] was charged. [He was also later convicted of negligent use of a deadly weapon.] Baldwin was charged. Everyone with criminal culpability has been charged in this case,” Morrissey said in her closing argument. “She's not getting scapegoated. She's not being given a break because she's a woman or young. That's not how the law works.”
Morrissey gave several clues about her case against Baldwin. She told the jury that it could charge Hannah with a crime and still blame Baldwin.
“I'm not saying his conduct was right. I'm the person who indicted him,” said Morrissey. “Alec Baldwin's conduct and his lack of gun safety inside that church on that day is something he's going to have to answer for.”
“Did Alec Baldwin also contribute when he pointed the gun at people and pulled the hammer back and— regardless of what he said to George Stephanopoulos – pulled the trigger?” Morrissey said to the jury. “Yes, he did. We will deal with it another time.”
In that ABC 2021 interview, Baldwin falsely claimed he never pulled the trigger, which has been thoroughly disproven. To me, Baldwin bears much more responsibility because he was a producer of the film, and he also set the tone for reckless gun behavior on the Rust set.
And the bigger question is, why were there ANY live rounds on the set at all? There shouldn't have been.
This case is still far from over.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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