Lawyers for Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed blame Alec Baldwin for fatal shooting
- Prosecutors accuse Gutierrez-Reed of being ‘sloppy and unprofessional’, in the first trial over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
- The defence says the film’s producers are trying to make the armourer a scapegoat, and Baldwin, who was holding the weapon, had violated basic gun safety rules
Lawyers blamed Alec Baldwin for the fatal shooting on the set of Western film Rust in opening statements on Thursday, as they defended the film’s armourer from prosecutors’ allegations she was “sloppy and unprofessional”.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died from her injuries after being hit by a live round fired from a gun Baldwin was holding during a rehearsal in New Mexico in 2021.
Baldwin, the lead actor and a producer on Rust, is awaiting his own manslaughter trial at the same Santa Fe court. He has pleaded not guilty and insisted he did not pull the trigger, saying that as an actor, he should have been able to rely on the professionals around him.
But the Hollywood A-lister was at the heart of arguments made by the defence for armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for weapons on set and is the first person to go on trial over the tragedy.
“Mr Baldwin, one of the lead producers, head actor on the movie – he really controlled the set – you’re going to hear that he violated some of the most basic gun safety rules you can ever learn,” defence lawyer Jason Bowles said.