“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed faced her second day in court on Friday.
The rookie armorer is being charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Halyna Hutchins, although it was actor Alec Baldwin who had been the one holding the gun when it went off.
Gutierrez-Reed was also charged with tampering with evidence after prosecutors claimed that a witness told them that the armorer gave them a bag of cocaine shortly before being interviewed by police on the day of the investigation.
Although her legal team vehemently tried to get the allegations of her drug use dismissed from the trial, the prosecutors opened the second day of the trial with text messages that alleged that she might have been impaired on the night before Hutchins was killed.
‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s Text Messages Allude To Drug Use
![Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer on the set of Alec Baldwin movie Rust, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot dead, appears in police bodycam footage taken shortly after the fatal shooting in October 2021. She can be seen talking to police and can be heard telling an officer: “I just f****d up my whole entire career.” Bodycam footage captured on the New Mexico set shows Gutierrez-Reed sitting in the back of a police car before being escorted to a toilet by a female officer. The footage begins with Gutierrez-Reed answering a different officer’s questions. Gutierrez-Reed - who was in charge of weapons and ammunition on the set - first confirmed her place of work before responding to a question about her job title. When asked by a cop: “What’s your place of employment?” she responded, “Here”. The officer then asked: “What’s your job?” to which Gutierrez-Reed replied, “I’m the armourer, or at least I was.” Shortly afterwards, a female cop approaches the car Gutierrez-Reed is sitting in, saying: “Hi, you need to use the restroom?” Gutierrez-Reed confirms that she does, and the pair start walking across the film’s set towards the toilets. Gutierrez-Reed can be heard saying: “Welcome to the worst day of my life”, before adding: “I can’t believe Alec Baldwin was holding the gun, that’s so f****d.” Once in the bathroom, Gutierrez-Reed states: “I just want to get the f**k out of here and never show my face in this industry again. “I'm the only female armourer in the game and I just f****d up my whole entire career." She later refers to herself as a "f*****g failure." Files related to the ongoing investigation were released by Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office earlier this week. 27 Apr 2022 Pictured: Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer on the set of movie Rust, seen in police bodycam footage. Photo credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff/MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA851773_010.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]](https://theblast.prod.media.wordpress.mattersmedia.io/2024/02/24083130/Armourer-Hannah-Gutierrez-Reed-seen-after-fatal-Rust-shooting-1.jpg)
On Friday, prosecutors presented the jury with text messages from Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s cell phone that indicated that she might have been smoking marijuana the night before “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on set. This was only the first piece of evidence in the prosecutor’s argument that the armorer’s “sloppiness” and unprofessionalism on set led to the death of the mother-of-one.
On October 20, 2021, on the night before the fatal shooting, the jury was presented with a text message from Gutierrez-Reed to a crew member that read, “Right on, I might go smoke in the jacuzzi soon, but maybe not I’m so pooped,” as per Variety. In another message, she added, “Headed down to get high out back:b.”
Later on in the night, a crew member asked, “How’d the blaze sess go.” To that message, Gutierrez-Reed replied, “I’m still smoking.”
Mentions Of Drug Use Will Be Limited In The Trial
Due to the frequent attempts by her legal team to get the drug charges dismissed, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer told the prosecution to limit the number of text messages that referenced drug use in order to keep the trial focused on the death of Halyna Hutchins and the fatal shooting. However, the prosecution is still using her alleged drug use to remind the jury that Gutierrez-Reed was smoking marijuana while she was in possession of ammunition that was supposed to be used on set.
Although the prop gun that actor Alec Baldwin was only supposed to contain dummy rounds, live ammunition somehow not only made it onto the set but into the gun that Baldwin was rehearsing for the scene. It should be noted that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was not present inside the church when the shooting took place and did not hand Baldwin the firearm. In total, law enforcement officials found six live rounds on the set, 250 dummy rounds, and nearly a thousand blanks.
The Jury Was Shown Photos From The ‘Rust’ Set
The jury was shown dozens of photos of ammunition that was found on set over the course of both Thursday and Friday. There were many different types of dummy rounds shown, including some that pictured holes in the sides while others would rattle when shaken. Although some rounds were inside of the boxes, others were found loosely sitting on top of a prop cart.
Marissa Poppell, an evidence technician for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, told the jury that there “were multiple rounds of multiple calibers all over the top portion of this cart.” The photos shown are familiar to some, as they were released by the Sheriff’s Office in 2022 due to an open records request.
Although prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for bringing the live ammunition to the set and failing to identify the dummy rounds from the live ones, her legal team put the blame on Seth Kenney, who provided the set with ammunition and weapons. Her lawyer, Jason Bowles, showed photographs of Kenney’s business, PDQ Props in Albuquerque, which included large stacks of boxes of ammunition pushed up against one wall.
Other photographs showed boxes and miscellaneous items strewn about the floor, arguing that the disorganization of the business may have led to live ammunition being mixed into the live rounds. Although the prosecution argued that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed brought the live ammunition to set, the defense team blamed Seth Kenney and argued that the live ammunition was never fingerprinted to see who had touched it.
