Alec Baldwin is fighting against prosecutors’ attempt to make convicted Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed testify at his trial for involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin’s lawyers filed documents on June 7 opposing the prosecutors’ motion to force Gutierrez-Reed, who is appealing her own conviction, to take the stand in July.
Gutierrez-Reed was the armorer who mistakenly loaded live ammunition into the prop gun that Baldwin was holding when it discharged, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set in New Mexico in 2021. Although Gutierrez-Reed was initially on Baldwin’s witness list, she invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege during a pre-trial interview.
Prosecutors sought to grant Gutierrez-Reed “use immunity,” which would prevent her testimony at Baldwin’s trial from being used against her in her appeal. Legal expert Emily D. Baker explained that Baldwin’s legal team may have planned to use clips of Gutierrez-Reed’s prior interviews in lieu of her testimony.
While Gutierrez-Reed had expressed regret in interviews for not checking the gun properly, recorded prison phone calls revealed her anger towards Baldwin and desire to see him in jail. Baldwin’s lawyers accused prosecutors of waiting too long to request use immunity and claimed that adding Gutierrez-Reed to the witness list at the last minute was unjustified and prejudicial.
The decision on granting use immunity to Gutierrez-Reed will be made by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on June 21. Baldwin’s trial is scheduled to commence on July 10, with a potential sentence of up to 18 months in prison if convicted.