A judge is planning to hear arguments in court Thursday over whether to dismiss a criminal conviction against a movie armorer in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has requested a retrial or dismissal of her March conviction for involuntary manslaughter in response to allegations that prosecutors failed to share evidence including ammunition that might have been exculpatory in the shooting death that occurred on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer is reconsidering the armorer’s conviction after throwing out an involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin midtrial on similar grounds.
From what little I have heard the production kept distracting her with additional roles and responsibilities when they shouldn’t have, essentially preventing her from doing her job properly. I wouldn’t throw all the blame on a single person if there was an organizational problem that contributed to the accident. Otherwise the armourer’s job isn’t to ensure safety anymore but just to be a scapegoat every time things go wrong.
ahh yeah i spose. a part of me thinks that just proves how unqualified she was… that she wasnt able to identify the risks as they loaded her plate. i often hear ‘i cant do this job successfully if you want me to do x, y and z’.
i wonder if she brought any of that up before the event
I fully agree that she should have absolutely refused to work under those conditions.
But in an environment where some producers might not understand the importance of leaving her to do her job undisturbed and will have the mentality of constantly pressuring people like her to compromise safety under the threat of firing then and “finding someone who will”, I believe that the blame is to be shared. Otherwise, these accidents will happen again.