A New Mexico judge ruled Wednesday that “Rust” movie gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's alleged off-duty drug use could be introduced into evidence during her upcoming trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter. death of the film's director of photography.
Special prosecutors plan to tell jurors that Gutierrez-Reed, 26, used cocaine, marijuana and alcohol when he wasn't working and was likely hungover on Oct. 21, 2021, when he loaded a live bullet into actor Alec Baldwin's revolver. . That day, during a rehearsal in an old wooden church, Baldwin allegedly fired the shot that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded the film's director Joel Souza.
At a key hearing a week before Gutierrez-Reed's trial on involuntary manslaughter charges begins in Santa Fe, New Mexico, attorneys argued over the relevance of certain evidence, including Gutierrez-Reed's text messages. In the texts, she alluded to drug use during her off hours while the film was in production outside Santa Fe, including the night before the fatal shooting.
Gutiérrez-Reed's Lawyers
objected to Special Prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey's plans to introduce text messages about drug use during the trial and a photograph allegedly showing live ammunition in Gutierrez-Reed's hotel room when he smoked marijuana.
Prosecutors also plan to call a witness to try to corroborate the alleged drug use: an acquaintance who says Gutierrez-Reed gave him a small bag of a white substance to keep a few hours after sheriff's deputies questioned him. Gutiérrez-Reed after the shooting.
Santa Fe County sheriff's deputies, in their investigation, recovered no drug evidence. Members of the film crew were not tested for drugs or alcohol at the scene, nor when they arrived at the sheriff's station near Santa Fe later that afternoon for questioning, the attorneys said.
Instead, prosecutors have tried to piece together a picture of the alleged drug use through Gutierrez-Reed's text messages, which were voluntarily provided to agents more than two years ago to assist in the investigation.
Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, Todd Bullion, argued Wednesday that the state had no evidence showing Gutierrez-Reed was under the influence of alcohol on set. He said the revelations about drug use could be prejudicial to the jury and constituted an overreach by prosecutors.
“They want the jury to assume that at some point before going to work on October 21, 2021, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed ingested cocaine,” Bullion told the judge. “They have no evidence of whether that actually happened… They have no evidence of how much cocaine would have been consumed or how it would have affected Ms. Gutierrez-Reed or her perception or mental acuity.”
First Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that some of the text messages, including one with a photo of live ammunition in the hotel room, could be presented to the jury.
However, the judge expressed some doubt that the state had enough evidence to connect the alleged drug use to any deterioration on set.
Wednesday's hearing was held to resolve issues with witnesses and evidence before the Arizona gunsmith's upcoming trial in Santa Fe, which begins with jury selection on Feb. 21.
Defense attorneys also attempted to introduce a new witness: an East Coast gunsmith who was prepared to testify that Gutierrez-Reed did not have the proper training required for union members who work as gun experts on films.
But the judge ruled that the proposed addition of the new witness came at the end of the trial.
Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, as well as a separate felony charge of allegedly tampering with evidence. That charge was related to allegedly passing the bag with the white substance to the acquaintance.
If convicted of the manslaughter charges, she faces an 18-month prison sentence.
Last month, a New Mexico grand jury indicted Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter for his role in Hutchins' tragic death. If he is convicted of the charge, a fourth-degree felony, Baldwin could also serve up to 18 months in prison, under New Mexico law.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. “We look forward to our day in court,” Baldwin's attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said in a statement last month. No date has been set for the actor's trial.
For their part, Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers plan to argue that Hutchins' death was the result of a series of missteps, brought on by extreme pressure from production managers to finish the film, which involved heavy weaponry, within 21 days and below the initial 7 dollars. million budget. The filmmakers finished filming the movie last spring in Montana.
Gutierrez-Reed had asked for additional days to provide Baldwin with weapons training, but the production manager denied that request. Gutierrez-Reed had said Baldwin was distracted on his phone, talking to his family in New York, during his only day of weapons training.
Days before the tragedy, a production manager also scolded Gutierrez-Reed for spending too much time dealing with weapons and not enough on his supporting role as a prop assistant.
Morrissey fought to exclude the findings of New Mexico's occupational safety division, which concluded that the producers were also culpable in Hutchins' death by allowing a work environment rife with safety violations during the trial.
The judge said Wednesday that the findings of the OSHA investigation could be mentioned during the trial.
Before Rust, Gutiérrez-Reed worked on about seven films, including during her years as a college student in Arizona. “Rust” was only his second film as chief gunsmith. The first was “The Old Way,” filmed in Montana and starring Nicolas Cage.
She is the daughter of legendary Hollywood sniper Thell Reed.
