Written by Andrew Hay
(Reuters) – Prosecutors on Tuesday focused on how live ammunition was brought to the set of the movie “The Last,” saying the live ammunition used in the shooting came from a box of ammunition provided by police. Cross-examined a detective who said the armorer’s statement was a mistake. props supplier.
On the fourth day of armorer Hannah Gutierrez’s manslaughter trial, jurors watched a video of her interview by police on Oct. 21, 2021. That was the day I worked as the cinematographer for “The Last”. Halina Hutchins Gutierrez dies after being hit by a bullet loaded into his revolver star alec baldwin and was rehearsing. Baldwin’s other trial for involuntary manslaughter is scheduled for July 10.
Live ammunition has been banned on movie sets for more than a century. Prosecutors have argued that Gutierrez lacked professional knowledge and unknowingly brought six live rounds onto the set, which were never found.
In the video, the armorer tells detectives that the white cardboard box containing the live ammunition was provided to him about a week ago by prop supplier Seth Kenney.
Asked Tuesday by New Mexico Prosecutor Kari Morrissey if that statement was true, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Detective Alexandra Hancock said it wasn’t.
Later, in a Nov. 9, 2021 interview obtained by Reuters, Gutierrez told Hancock that he brought the box onto set, and soon the tray of ammunition inside it was swapped out from another box. He added that it may have been.
Gutierrez’s lawyers claim he was the scapegoat for the hastily produced film, in which Baldwin and other producers ignored firearm safety.
Baldwin has said that firearms safety is the responsibility of the weapons handler, not the actor, but producers deny that they ignored Gutierrez’s request for additional firearms training for Baldwin.
Also Tuesday, Coroner Heather Jarrell testified that doctors mistakenly inserted a breathing tube into Hutchins and it took an hour and a half to transport her to the hospital.
Asked by defense attorney Jason Bowles whether Hutchins could have been saved if he had been treated more quickly, Jarrell said, “It’s possible.”
(Reporting by Andrew Haigh; Editing by Donna Bryson and Christopher Cushing)
