Rust armourer denied immunity to testify at actor Alec Baldwin trial
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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced after a jury found her guilty of criminal negligence for mistakenly loading a live round into the revolver Alec Baldwin was using.
PHOTOS: REUTERS
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SANTA FE, New Mexico – An American judge has denied the prosecution’s request that convicted Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez be given immunity to testify at the July trial of actor Alec Baldwin for the 2021 fatal shooting of the movie’s cinematographer.
Gutierrez was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March for the on-set killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and was what prosecutor Kari Morrissey called “an incredibly important witness” against Baldwin.
Prosecutors are trying to show Baldwin, 66, was negligent in his use of a revolver that fired a live round into Ms Hutchins, who died at the age of 42.
Ms Morrissey said during a hearing on June 21 that she might still call Gutierrez to the stand.
However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said it was clear from preliminary interviews and from her lawyer’s arguments on June 21 that Gutierrez would not answer questions on the stand, with or without immunity.
In pre-trial interviews, Gutierrez claimed her constitutional right to remain silent and not incriminate herself when questioned on firearms safety failures leading up to the shooting inside a movie-set church near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Prosecutors had requested that Gutierrez get the so-called “use immunity”, which would prevent them using anything she says at Baldwin’s trial against her.
Her lawyer said she does not wish to incriminate herself as she appeals against her April sentencing of 18 months imprisonment, and in another unrelated weapons case she faces.
Gutierrez was sentenced after a jury found her guilty of criminal negligence for mistakenly loading a live round into the revolver Baldwin was using.
The actor has denied responsibility for Hutchins’ death, saying the gun went off on its own after he pointed it at the cinematographer and cocked it. He denies pulling the trigger.
In a recorded phone conversation after her trial in March, Gutierrez was recorded saying she wanted to see Baldwin “in jail”, according to a court filing by prosecutors.
Also on June 21, Judge Sommer allowed a group of defence witnesses to remain after Baldwin’s legal team requested they be removed from their list following pre-trial interviews.
Ms Morrissey said in a court filing that one of the witnesses, Mr Zachariah Sneesby, said in a pre-trial interview that he saw Baldwin pull the trigger of the revolver when it fired the round that killed Ms Hutchins. REUTERS
