Jury hears closing arguments in trial of armorer over deadly taking pictures by Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. — A jury would quickly weigh whether or not a film weapons supervisor needs to be held in charge within the deadly taking pictures of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin throughout rehearsal on the set of a Western film, as attorneys Wednesday delivered closing arguments within the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
Gutierrez-Reed, a 24-year-old on her second function movie on the time of the 2021 taking pictures, has pleaded not responsible to expenses of involuntary manslaughter and proof tampering at a trial in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The proceedings are a preamble to a possible trial towards Baldwin scheduled for July on a single cost of involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin, who has pleaded not responsible, was pointing a revolver at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly introduced stay ammunition onto the set of “Rust” at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, the place the rounds lingered for a minimum of 12 days till the deadly taking pictures.
Delivering her closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey described “fixed, unending security failures” on the set of “Rust” and Gutierrez-Reed’s “astonishing lack of diligence” with gun security.
“We finish precisely the place we started — within the pursuit of justice for Halyna Hutchins,” Morrissey advised the jury. “Hannah Gutierrez failed to keep up firearms security, making a deadly accident willful and foreseeable.”
Prosecutors contend the armorer repeatedly skipped or skimped on normal gun-safety protocols which may have detected stay rounds on set.
“This was a sport of Russian roulette each time an actor had a gun with dummies,” Morrissey stated.
Protection attorneys contend issues on the film set prolonged far past Gutierrez-Reed’s management, together with the mishandling of weapons by Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer who crew members have been loath to confront.
They are saying prosecutors haven’t come near proving the place stay ammunition originated, failing to completely examine an Albuquerque-based ammunition provider.
Dozens of witnesses testified over the course of 10 days at trial, working the gamut from FBI specialists in firearms and crime-scene forensics to a digital camera dolly operator who described the deadly gunshot and watched Hutchins go flush and lose emotions in her legs earlier than dying.
The prosecution has painstakingly assembled photographic proof they are saying traces the arrival and unfold of stay rounds on set, utilizing testimony from eyewitnesses to the taking pictures together with Souza to reconstruct the day it occurred on Oct. 21, 2021.
Prosecutors say six stay rounds discovered on the “Rust” set bear largely an identical traits — and don’t match stay rounds seized from the film’s provider in Albuquerque. Protection attorneys say the cluttered provide workplace was not searched till a month after the deadly taking pictures, undermining the importance of bodily proof there.
A second cost towards Gutierrez-Reed of proof tampering stems from accusations that she handed a small bag of potential narcotics to a different crew member after the taking pictures to keep away from detection.
The felony expenses towards Gutierrez-Reed carry a potential sentence of as much as thee years in jail.
