Prosecutors in New Mexico have alleged that armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed passed cocaine to someone else to avoid scrutiny of her handling of weapons on the “Rust” film set where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed.
In a new filing in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court, prosecutors said a witness could testify that Gutierrez Reed transferred a “small bag of cocaine” to them following the fatal shooting of Hutchins in October 2021.
The prosecutors allege the armorer did so to avoid prosecution and prevent law enforcement from obtaining evidence that could determine her handling of firearms and the circumstances of the accidental shooting.
Prosecutors did not identify the witness, saying they will be “blacklisted from the film industry” for coming forward.
The allegation is the latest development in the newly appointed prosecutors’ attempts to bring charges in the “Rust” case. Gutierrez Reed is the sole remaining defendant after charges against Alec Baldwin were dropped.
“A secret witness appears 20 months later? With no actual corroboration or evidence? And the state won’t identify the person? This is a throwback to the secret, star chamber prosecutions in England in the 15th century that were abolished,” said Gutierrez Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles in an emailed statement. “Like everything else with the state’s case and investigation, it’s full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing.”
Gutierrez Reed is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors have been scrutinizing her behavior on set of the film on the day of the fatal shooting.
Earlier this month, prosecutors alleged Gutierrez Reed was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s revolver before the fatal shooting. The accusation was leveled after an attempt by her attorneys to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges against her, saying they were without merit.
In April, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Baldwin in the “Rust” shooting after receiving new information about the gun in the case. source
Fuck, Alec Baldwin is such an enormous piece of shit, and this case just shows how much power you have when you have money.
First he is the producer and star of the film, so he is essentially the most important person on set. In order to make his film, a supposed passion project, he decides to shoot outside LA in an area where production rules are more lax and he hires an inexperienced wrangler to handle weapons so that they can save a buck and push her around. How? By pushing her around and making her do double duty running around handling other prop shit.
Then they routinely push people out of rehearsal, including the armorer and then run a closed rehearsal without her there where Alec Baldwin picks up a fucking real gun and points it at two people, which he then shoots because of his absolutely criminal degree of negligence, bypassing an entire novels worth of safety rules that exist on set to prevent this very thing.
Why? To save money. Its worth remembering that on a film set if you can hire someone for less, that guarantees people in higher positions bonuses for cutting down budget costs. When you do other things to cut costs, such as not pay for reasonable accommodation for crew, that gives you a potential bonus. Every single cost cutting and safety dodging system here was so Alec and his sycophants could shoot the movie their way and embezzle more of the budget for themselves. Remember that on the day of the day of the shooting, the entire camera dept walked citing safety concerns, lack of accommodation and cost cutting.
Only the DOP stayed, and it cost her her fucking life. And ever since the incident I’ve heard nothing but deflection and gaslighting from the Baldwin camp. His PR teams are all over every thread and comment section, happy to explain that a producer “actually has like zero power, they’re in fact the weakest position on a film crew.” Baldwin himself has displayed little to no remorse and fails to take even a modicum of responsibility for running a corner cutting set that caused someone’s fucking death when he broke literally every rule in the book designed to prevent this eventuality.
Absolutely fucking sickening story that highlights everything wrong withthe film industry and shows how even a supposed leftie like Baldwin is actually little more than. Shot bag producer who runs his sets like a fucking entitled tyrant and faces no discipline for it.
I used to respect the man and his work, but after this incident I will never watch another Alec Baldwin film again. Guy’s a fucking woman killing loser.
Overconfidence, recklessness, and dangerous handling of weapons on the job. Sounds enough like cocaine for me to believe this.
Clusterfsck all around
Following the link, curious as to why charges were dropped against Baldwin at all, I found the supposed answer:
“The replica of the vintage weapon — a Colt .45 revolver — had been modified , increasing the odds that the gun might have misfired, as Baldwin has said, according to the sources.”
And I’m left to wonder, how much money is prerequisite for getting away with negligence that results in the death of another?
There shouldn’t have been live ammo on set at all, and whether or not they had live ammo on set, if those firearms have the ability to chamber a live cartridge at all, they should be checked by the armorer while the actor watches, then handed to the actor, and then the actor checks it themselves. That is how it works for firearms owners/people they’re teaching etc, and actors should not have the excuse of being “too dumb” to learn how to check a gun, if bubba’s 10yo kid can do it after one afternoon of teaching, most actors can too. If an actor can’t learn Col. Jeff Cooper’s four rules and how to check the gun they’re using for live rounds, they should not be able to use real or blank firing firearms in movies, non-firing replicas only. Drop their SAG insurance for noncompliance, as it is a serious safety hazard to all involved for them to be as cavelier as they seem to be.
