For most of us, we remember when the news about the tragic killing on the set of “Rust” hit.
The movie was a low-budget Western with leftist firebrand Alec Baldwin acting as the producer and lead actor. But while in rehearsal, Baldwin, without checking to see if the weapon in his hand was loaded, pointed that loaded weapon at another human. The weapon had a live round in the chamber. The gun discharged the live round and killed and injured.
These facts are not in dispute.
Baldwin has claimed that he didn’t “pull the trigger”. FBI forensics have determined that the weapon Baldwin pointed at could not fire without the hammer back and the trigger being pulled. The state of New Mexico first charged Baldwin criminally then dropped the charges, then reinstated the charges. Baldwin remains charged with involuntary manslaughter.
There was a whirlwind of media coverage concerning that day’s tragic events. There is no doubt that Baldwin’s team of lawyers and media-savvy people went on the offensive to protect “The Precious.”
And, for a while, it worked. Baldwin went on living his life with his fake Spanish wife.
What flew under the radar was the assistant director David Halls pleading no contest to negligent handling of a firearm. He owned up to his mistakes and served six months of supervised parole. The armorer (one of the most important people on the set with guns) was also charged. Hanna Gutierrez-Reed was charged with an enhanced count of involuntary manslaughter. Instead of taking a plea deal, she pled not guilty to the charges and went to trial.
As a criminal defense attorney, I find that decision baffling. There was a mountain of evidence weighing against Gutierrez-Reed.
The trial court allowed evidence that Guiterrez-Reed secreted a gun into a bar close to the set and bragged about her subterfuge online. There was also evidence of illegal drug use. If you are filming “Caddyshack,” that might not lead to tragedy but with a movie using guns, being stoned might lead to death. And, Gutierrez-Reed took cast members out to the desert to shoot prop weapons with live rounds. After the tragic death on set, six live rounds were found on the set.
All of this was a disaster waiting to happen. And, it did happen.
According to CBS News:
The revolver should never have contained live ammunition, according to industry-wide regulations and union guidelines governing the use of firearms on film sets, and the Santa Fe district attorney’s office had said in their initial probable cause statement that evidence indicated the scene Baldwin was rehearsing should not have even required the use of blanks. Inert dummy rounds would have sufficed instead, the statement alleged, and cited expert weapons consultants who noted that a plastic or replica gun should have been used during the rehearsal.
Guiterrez-Reed was less than contrite after her conviction.
“Your honor, when I took on ‘Rust,’ I was young and naive. But I took my job as seriously as I knew how to,” Gutierrez-Reed said. “I beg you, please, don’t give me more time. The jury has found me in part at fault for this horrible tragedy, but that doesn’t make me a monster. That makes me human.”
Probably the wrong answer.
Telling the court that you were an idiot and young and shouldn’t have taken the job, isn’t the best approach for sentence reduction.
The judge had a better retort:
When the producers hired someone with virtually no experience to not only be the armorer but also the assistant prop master, two very challenging positions, they made a crucial decision to put the safety of the cast and crew on the back burner. As for Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, it’s my opinion that she should not have held either position, much less both, but that once accepted, the responsibility should have been taken more seriously. Sadly it wasn’t, and we all know the result.
None of this bodes well for Alec Baldwin. He’s the producer and was on site for everything. And he claims that he didn’t pull the trigger. It seems that BS excuses will not play well in New Mexico. Not after this verdict and sentencing.
