Rust production wanted to fire ‘difficult to work with’ armourer before Alec Baldwin shooting
“Rust” first assistant director David Halls testified during the trial, and choked up when he recalled the shooting of Halyna Hutchins
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“Rust” prop master Sarah Zachry testified during the trial and admitted to a defence attorney that she had previously voiced a desire to both fire Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and — after the shooting of Halyna Hutchins — see her sent to prison.
After the cross-exam, Ms Zachry told the prosection that the armourer was not easy to work with and confirmed that Gutierrez-Reed had called her a “c***,” which the prosecution argued is likely why Ms Zachry wanted to fire her.
Gutierrez-Reed is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the fatal shooting of Ms Hutchins. Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is also facing involuntary manslaughter charges related to the shooting. His trial will begin on 9 July.
The prosecution seeks to prove that Gutierrez-Reed was negligent in her duties on set and that proper protocol was in place during the investigation of the shooting. The state claims the armourer was “sloppy” and had left guns unattended on the set.
Gutierrez-Reed is also facing an evidence tampering charge for allegedly asking a friend to hide cocaine for her while police were investigating the shooting.
Gutierrez-Reed faces up to three years in prison if she is convicted.
Defence begins its cross-examination of former Santa Fe deputy
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s defence attorney has begun his cross-exmaination of former Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputy Tim Benavidez.
The prosecution used its time questioning the deputy to establish a chain of custody for various pieces of physical evidence collected from the crime scene, including the 45 Colt replica that shot the bullet that killed Halyna Hutchins and “dummy” ammo that was meant for use on set.
The defence has asked the deputy both about the importance of maintaining the chain of custody for physical evidence and about the number of deputies who responded to the scene of the shooting.
Mr Benavidez said only three deputies were available to respond to the scene due to the fact that deputies are stationed all across Sante Fe County.
Defence tries to poke holes in the investigation
Defense attorneys representing Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer on the film “Rust.”
The defence questioned former Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputy Tim Benavidez, who was the site commander on the day of the shooting, why he did not begin his crime log earlier. He said it was because he only had three deputies to respond to the scene.
The defence also pointed out that a car contaning physical evidence was beyond the police tape, and the officer admitted that it was possible that someone could have accessed that vehicle and tampered with evidence. He later stated to the prosecution that he did not believe anyone had tampered with evidence and that he could see the car in question while he was on site.
Mr Benavidez was also asked why he did not allow witnesses to return to their cars rather than attempting to keep them corralled in a central location. He told the defence that he did not know where all of the crews’ cars were located and reiterated that he only had three deputies on hand to help contain the witnesses to the shooting.
Prosecution’s third witness: Crime scene investigator Marissa Poppell
The prosecution called its third witness, Marissa Poppell, a crime scene investigator who assisted with the investigation into the shooting of Halyna Hutcins.
Ms Poppell said she arrived at the Bonanza Creek crime scene between 2 and 3 pm, and assisted with the collection and packaging of evidence taken from the scene. She also sent suspected live ammunition and gathered DNA evidence as well as fingerprints to be analysed by the FBI.
The prosecution has thus far spent most of the first day establishing a chain of custody for the physical evidence collected from the “Rust” film set following the shooting.
She said that she collected casings at the crime scene, but that those casings were not DNA tested because they were too small to pull samples from.
Ms Poppell also carried out an investigation of PDQ Arm and Prop, the shop that supplied the film production with dummy ammunition.
Court has adjourned for the day
The first day of the high-profile trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has come to an end. It will resume at 8.30am on Friday.
Prosecution explains evidence tampering charge
The prosecution laid out a brief explanation of its argument that Gutierrez-Reed tampered with evidence.
Prosecutor Jason Lewis argued that after the shooting, Gutierrez-Lewis returned to a hotel room and gave a colleague a bag of cocaine, and told that individual to hold onto it for her.
The crewmate reportedly was shocked by the request and disposed of the drugs they had allegedly been given by Gutierrez-Reed.
The prosecution further claimed that Gutierrez-Reed texted the crewmate over the following days, asking them to “return her stuff.”
Defence says Alec Baldwin carried out “dangerous” draw on day of the shooting, claims prop company was active in pointing fingers
Jason Bowles, who is representing Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said actor and producer Alec Baldwin never should have performed a “seat-crossdraw”, as it is one of the most “dangerous” ways to draw a gun.
He also said that the dummy rounds used on set were sourced by a prop company in New Mexico, which he claims began talking to law enforcement and pointing blame away from the company after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Mr Bowles claims that the production’s prop master, Sarah Zachary, texted the company “emergency” in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The defence will call Thell Reed, the defendant’s father, as a witness
Jason Bowles, the attorney representing Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said they would call her father, Thell Reed, to testify.
Mr Reed is a celebrated Hollywood armourer and has worked on movies including “Tombstone” and “3:10 to Yuma” and trained actors including Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington.
Mr Bowles said that contrary to the prosecution’s argument, Gutierrez-Reed was professionally trained and was good at her job, and said Mr Reed would confirm as much.
ICYMI: Alec Baldwin formally charged with involuntary manslaughter over Rust shooting
Alec Baldwin has been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the New Mexico film set in 2021.
Prosecutors filed the felony charges against the actor, who allegedly pointed a gun at Hutchins that went off and fatally shot her, on Tuesday (31 January), according to Albuquerque TV station KOAT.
Hutchins died after being struck by a live bullet at Bonanza Creek Ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 21 October 2021. Joel Souza, the director of the film Rust, was also shot and injured but survived the incident.
Alec Baldwin formally charged with involuntary manslaughter over Rust shooting
Actor has denied that he pulled trigger of weapon during rehearsal on New Mexico set in 2021
ICYMI: Officer continues to testify about shooting
Sante Fe Officer Nicholas LaFleur said he spoke to the dispatcher to give them an update on the conditions of the two victims who had been shot on the set.
He can be heard on the video, which cannot be seen outside of the courtroom, describing the victims and saying that a woman has been shot.
The officer then described putting a breathing mask over Halyna Hutchins’s face, while a woman can be heard saying “Deep breaths Halyna, good girl, deep breaths.”
He could be heard saying that she had been hit by a “through and through.”
“She had been shot and it had gone through her and the male that was there had been hit in the arm and shoulder area,” he told the jury.
Alec Baldwin tells officer he was ‘the one with the gun’ after shooting
The movie crew can be heard on video describing the “props guy” as having “green and purple hair.”
The crew then described that Alec Baldwin was on the set and the officer could be heard talking to the actor, telling him he “knew” who he was.
“I was the one with the gun. What do you need?” Baldwin told him.
The officer said that there were three officers at the scene and a “couple of hundred” people were on the set. He said that he “corralled” around 10 people who had been in the area of the shooting.