A New Mexico detective has testified that Hannah Gutierrez identified an ammunition box and bandoliers as hers, boosting the prosecution theory that the armourer brought live rounds onto the set of the film Rust where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot.
Recent testimony during Gutierrez's involuntary manslaughter trial has seen prosecutors zero in on how six live rounds - strictly forbidden on film sets - were brought onto the production where Halyna Hutchins was shot dead by actor Alec Baldwin on 21 October 2021.
Hutchins died after Gutierrez unknowingly loaded one of the live rounds into a revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with on the New Mexico set. The gun fired as Baldwin pointed it at Hutchins, also wounding director Joel Souza.
Gutierrez has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering. She could face up to three years in prison if convicted of both.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. His trial is scheduled for 10 July.
On Wednesday, Detective Alexandra Hancock testified that during a 9 November 2021 police interview with Gutierrez, which jurors were shown, the weapons handler identified an ammunition box she drew a live round from as one she brought on set and said she provided bandoliers in which police found live rounds.
"There's a lot of things," Santa Fe County Sherrif's Office Corporal Alexandra Hancock testified when asked by a special prosecutor to list the "circumstantial evidence" she said she found that Gutierrez brought the live rounds.
In cross-examination, Gutierrez's lawyer Jason Bowles pointed to his client's comment in a 21 October 2021 police interview that her ammunition came from props supplier Seth Kenney.
Bowles asked Hancock whether she had tried to find invoices to show Kenney provided ammunition to Gutierrez's previous production The Old Way.
Gutierrez said she brought two boxes of dummy rounds and bandoliers used in The Old Way to Rust.
Hancock replied that she had not.
Hancock said she found no evidence Kenney provided the live rounds found on Rust.
Kenney has not been charged and is set to testify on Monday in the two-week trial.
Source: Reuters
