- Rust crew members have raised considerations in regards to the armorer’s ‘drug and alcohol use,’ prosecutors say
- Hannah Gutierrez was charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with proof in connection to taking pictures of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
- Her jury trial is about for February 22 on her involuntary manslaughter cost
Rust crew members have raised considerations over armorer Hannah Gutierrez’s ‘drug and alcohol use’ throughout filming as her upcoming trial approaches.
Gutierrez was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by actor Alex Baldwin on set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 21, 2021.
Gutierrez has additionally been charged with tampering with proof as prosecutors claimed she handed off a bag of cocaine after her interview on the police station, following Hutchins’s dying. She has pleaded not responsible to the costs.
Her jury trial is about for February 22 on her involuntary manslaughter cost.
Newly launched textual content messages between Gutierrez and others have been revealed in a brand new court docket submitting the place some voiced concern about her obvious substance abuse points.
Texts detailed Gutierrez’s ‘use of marijuana and cocaine and exposing her recklessness regarding substance abuse,’ Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey wrote in a court docket doc.
Rust crew members have raised concern about Hannah Gutierrez’s ‘drug and alcohol use’ whereas filming the film Rust in New Mexico, in response to court docket paperwork. Her jury trial is about for February 22 on her involuntary manslaughter cost
Witnesses stated that Gutierrez was ‘excessive on marijuana’ in her Santa Fe, New Mexico, lodge room ‘whereas concurrently in possession of packing containers of ammunition to be used on the set of the film’
Messages between Gutierrez’s legal professional Jason Bowels and Gutierrez had been shared with the units ammunition provider Seth Kenney after he submitted a public data request, in response to the court docket paperwork.
The prosecution later requested that Kenney destroy his copy of their communications.
Other textual content messages between Gutierrez and crew members had been additionally shared within the submitting.
‘I feel I used to be so drunk that she did not know she introduced reside ammo onto the truck when she went to get a gun from the protected,’ Sarah Zachry, a prop grasp on set despatched in textual content to Kenney, in response to court docket paperwork.
Morrissey wrote that different witnesses detailed how Gutierrez was ‘excessive on marijuana’ in her Santa Fe lodge room ‘whereas concurrently in possession of packing containers of ammunition to be used on the set of the film.’
According to the submitting, the armorer was supplied a plea deal on the situation that she would take duty for bringing reside ammunition on the film set as Morrissey stated there’s ‘substantial proof’ in opposition to her.
Gutierrez declined the plea settlement that might would have seen her not be indicted for bringing a firearm right into a liquor based mostly institution, an unrelated cost from one other incident, paperwork stated.
She was indicted for that cost in November as Bowels stated she was ‘pressured into giving up her Fifth Amendment proper to silence or face felony felony prosecution on a completely unrelated cost,’ Variety reported.
Bowels, advised ABC News the state ‘unquestionable lacks authority to prosecute’ her for the tampering with proof cost.
He added the substance contained in the bag was by no means examined and that there is no such thing as a proof that his consumer used it on or off set.
Bowels stated Gutierrez was charged ‘in an effort to trigger unfair prejudice’ to her throughout her trial, and that prosecutors violated her rights once they shared her attorney-client communications to a 3rd occasion.
‘Their response to launch vitriolic private assaults to obscure the info and fact is extra of the identical unprofessional conduct that now we have seen all through the case,’ her legal professional stated.
Pictured: Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was shot useless on the set of Rust by Alec Baldwin
According to court docket filings, the armorer was supplied a plea deal on the situation that she would take duty for bringing reside ammunition on the film set, however she declined it
Pictured: Baldwin training drawing his revolver on the set of the Rust film
Actor Baldwin additionally faces costs costs in connection to the killing. Baldwin pleaded not responsible to an involuntary manslaughter cost on Wednesday, as his attorneys push for a speedy trial to ‘reduce public suspicion and vilification.’
Court paperwork filed Wednesday present Baldwin entered the plea in state district court docket in Santa Fe, waiving an arraignment that had been scheduled to happen remotely by video convention the following day.
Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western film ‘Rust,’ was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins throughout a rehearsal outdoors Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
A grand jury in Santa Fe indicted Baldwin in January after prosecutors acquired a brand new evaluation of that gun, renewing a cost that prosecutors initially filed after which dismissed in April 2023. Baldwin faces as much as 18 months in jail if convicted.
Baldwin’s attorneys known as the prosecution ‘misguided’ and pushed for quick court docket proceedings to ‘reduce public vilification and suspicion’ in opposition to the actor.
The grand jury indictment gives particular prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis with two various requirements for pursuing the felony cost in opposition to Baldwin.
One various can be based mostly on the negligent use of a firearm.
The second various for prosecutors is to show past an affordable doubt that Baldwin precipitated the dying of Hutchins with out due warning or ‘circumspection,’ additionally outlined as ‘an act dedicated with whole disregard or indifference for the security of others.’
An evaluation of the gun performed by Lucien and Michael Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona concluded that ‘the set off needed to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to launch the absolutely cocked or retracted hammer of the proof revolver.’
The sour-faced actor, 65, wore grey trousers with a fleece-lined jacket and glasses as he strolled on his personal round Manhattan on Thursday after he pleaded not responsible to involuntary manslaughter
Baldwin was noticed concealing his face in New York City, following his latest ‘not responsible’ plea
This aerial photograph exhibits a part of the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set in Santa Fe on October 23, 2021. The deadly on set taking pictures occurred simply two days earlier than
An earlier FBI report on the company´s evaluation of the revolver discovered that, as is widespread with firearms of that design, it might go off with out pulling the set off if power was utilized to an un-cocked hammer, reminiscent of by dropping the weapon. The gun ultimately broke throughout testing.
Morrissey and Lewis dismissed the sooner cost after they had been knowledgeable the gun might need been modified earlier than the taking pictures and malfunctioned.
Baldwin stays free pending trial underneath circumstances that embody not possessing firearms, consuming alcohol or leaving the nation.
Baldwin can have restricted contact with witnesses with regards to selling ‘Rust,’ which has not been launched for public viewing.
Baldwin is prohibited from asking members of the ‘Rust’ solid or crew to take part in a associated documentary movie.
Baldwin has stated he pulled again the hammer – however not the set off – and the gun fired.
He might resist 18 months in jail if convicted.
‘Halyna and I had one thing profound in widespread, and that’s that we each assumed the gun was empty … aside from these dummy rounds,’ Baldwin advised George Stephanopoulos in an interview broadcast in December 2021 on ABC News.
The actor, 65, was noticed in New York City on Thursday trying glum as he wore grey trousers with a fleece-lined jacket and glasses and strolled on his personal round Manhattan within the morning.
Baldwin tried to hide his face as he acquired right into a automotive, whereas his spouse Hilaria was seen on a espresso run with one in every of their eight youngsters.
‘Rust’ assistant director and security coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe dealing with of a firearm final March and acquired a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate within the investigation of the deadly taking pictures.