Summary

  • Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the Rust film set, is on trial after actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer

  • Gutierrez-Reed is accused of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges relating to the death of Halyna Hutchins in 2021

  • Hutchins, aged 42, was killed after a gun Baldwin had been rehearsing with went off on set

  • Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed acted recklessly when loading the gun and failed to ensure only dummy bullets were used in the weapon

  • Gutierrez-Reed denies the charges

  • Baldwin has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter and will face a separate trial

  • You can watch the court proceedings live by pressing the play button at the top of this page

  1. That's it for todaypublished at 00:22 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February

    Thank you for joining us for today.

    Emma Vardy and Samantha Granville reported from court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with contributions from Olivia Otigbah and Mike Wendling. Editing was by Brandon Livesay and Lisa Lambert.

    We have a summary of the day here, and will bring you more on this story as it develops.

  2. The fate of Hannah Gutierrez-Reedpublished at 00:08 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February

    Emma Vardy
    BBC News

    The jury has to reach a unanimous verdict to convict Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. If found guilty she could face up to three years in prison.

    But the defence’s tactic to lay the blame onto Alec Baldwin could be effective. He was the person holding the gun, so it’s an easy connection for the jury to make.

    Also, Mr Baldwin is not here to defend himself. He says he never pulled the trigger, but his trial isn’t until a later date and he isn’t on the witness list.

    Gutierrez-Reed is a relatively young woman in the industry, and the defence are hoping jurors will believe she has been made a scapegoat. She showed little feeling in court today, but the video of the scene after the shooting showed her strong emotional reaction and her possibly experiencing a panic attack.

  3. Court done for the daypublished at 23:56 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Just before 5 p.m. in Santa Fe, the judge let the jury leave, and now everyone is packing up for the day.

    Crime scene investigator Marissa Poppell had been on the stand talking about bullets, and how live rounds were found on the set.

  4. The big impression from today: chaos reigned after the shootingpublished at 23:40 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Emma Vardy
    Reporting from court

    We've moved into more sedate, technical testimony that is far calmer than the videos earlier.

    Still, the jury will be left with an impression today of just how chaotic the scene was in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

    From the tragic struggle for life of Halyna Hutchins on the floor, to the terror and distress shown by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, jurors watched it play out in real-time thanks to the extended body-camera video footage.

    That footage showed the difficult job officers had when they first arrived on the scene.

    The golden rules for a crime scene are to identify key witnesses, secure the scene and ensure, as far as possible, that evidence is preserved and cannot be tampered with. We saw how officers tried to do that, but on a film set with people spread out over a large area, it was clearly a difficult task, and the defence are going to use that.

  5. Telling the difference between a live and dummy bulletpublished at 23:19 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Emma Vardy
    Reporting from court

    Now we’re hearing from a crime scene investigator, and we’re looking closely at exhibits of different types of bullets in detail.

    She’s explaining how she collected all the evidence at Bonanza Creek Ranch, and sent evidence to be sent off to the FBI’s lab for analysis.

    They included live rounds found on set.

    First she is showing the jury an ammunition box with a label stating they are dummies.

    The lead prosecutor shakes one of the bullets close to the microphone for the jury, so they can hear ball bearings rattling inside, one way to tell that it is a dummy.

    Then she shows a live round, and explains that you can see the silver ‘primer’ at one end, and you can see all the gunpowder that the forensics lab found when they deconstructed it.

    This is one of those live bullets found on set that the prosecution says was incomprehensible -- that they should ever have been there.

  6. Realising this was an accident waiting to happenpublished at 23:08 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Emma Vardy
    Reporting from court

    We have all become experts today in the differences between dummy rounds, blank rounds and live rounds.

    But perhaps what we didn’t realise is just how subtle the differences can be, and how easily they could be mixed up. The prosecution pointed this out effectively.

    We probably take for granted that many film sets will have weapons on them, given so many movies involve shoot-outs of some kind. But watching this trial really brings home just how close to danger actors, and camera operators, may come.

    It’s no wonder actors have previously raised concerns over not always feeling safe on film sets. And seeing the pictures here shown of live rounds found elsewhere on the set makes you realise that this was an accident waiting to happen.

  7. Crime scene investigator takes the standpublished at 22:56 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Lt Tim Benavidez ends his testimony by saying he didn't see any tampering with evidence at the scene.

    The next witness is Marissa Poppell, a crime scene investigator with the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office who also worked on the case.

  8. Defence raises questions about evidence chainpublished at 22:47 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Samantha Granville
    Reporting from court

    So far cross examination of the prosecution's witnesses has focused on the evidence - and specifically whether it might have been tampered with.

    While questioning Lt Tim Benavidez, who was one of the first officers on the scene, defence lawyer Todd Bullion is raising questions about the evidence chain - who's handled key pieces of evidence such as the firearm and bullets.

    Bullion has tried to show that people at the scene crossed police lines, touched evidence such as dummy bullets without supervision, and talked to each other.

    Benavidez keeps repeating that he asked for backup, but that he was doing his best with only three deputies.

    Lt Benavidez admits that allowing a crew member to handle a dummy bullet was "a mistake".

    But he's kept cool under this cross-examination.

  9. Benavidez kept checking on Halynapublished at 22:06 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    The end of this body cam footage shows the Rust lawyer pushing Lt Benavidez to make sure she is physically present for any witness interviews.

    Meanwhile, Benavidez is constantly checking on Halyna’s condition.

    He climbs into the back of the ambulance asking if she was stable, and the paramedic replies “she’s critical.”

    Safety protocol dictates that she cannot be transported in the helicopter until she’s stable, hence the delay in evacuating her to the nearest hospital.

  10. Watch: Alec Baldwin tells police 'I was the one with the gun'published at 21:59 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Media caption,

    Moment Baldwin tells police: 'I was the one with the gun'

  11. Court is back in sessionpublished at 21:53 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    The trial has resumed after a short afternoon break.

    Lt Tim Benavidez of the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department is resuming his testimony about the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

  12. 'This is the gun': Moment Gutierrez-Reed gives firearm to policepublished at 21:49 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Media caption,

    'This is the gun': Moment Gutierrez-Reed gives firearm to police

  13. Court on break - here's what happeningpublished at 21:38 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    The court is taking an afternoon break during the testimony of Lt Tim Benavidez, one of the police officers who was first on the scene.

    We've been viewing a video showing body camera footage from Lt Benavidez as he tried to secure the scene.

    The officer has been describing what he saw when he arrived and how he went about sorting through the chaos in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

    We expect to hear more about that when court is back in session.

  14. Officer says she's having a panic attackpublished at 21:35 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Samantha Granville
    Reporting from court

    Lt Benavidez asks Hannah Guitierrez-Reed while she’s in the back of the cop car if she’s okay. She screams "no" in a high pitched and primal way.

    Benavidez then calls for help for Guitierrez-Reed, saying she’s having a panic attack and freaking out.

    It seems like Benavidez is doing a lot on the scene—separating witnesses, talking to witnesses, directing people around, and trying to keep her calm.

    During all this footage of her emotional state, HGR is just staring straight ahead in the court room. All members of the jury are glued to their screens, some taking notes furiously.

  15. Officers tried to keep Baldwin separated from crew after shootingpublished at 21:16 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Lt Benavidez is now describing how police began to take control of the scene as extra officers started to arrive.

    "We were trying to keep everybody separated so they wouldn't talk about the case" he tells the court.

    When asked by the lawyer whether there is a particular person officers tried to keep apart from others, Lt Benavidez replies: "Alec Baldwin."

    In footage played out in the courtroom, a crew member tells Lt Benavidez that Baldwin will "smoke a cigarette" and wait in his car.

  16. Defendant's immediate reaction shown in videopublished at 21:15 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Samantha Granville
    Reporting from court

    On the video showing the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is shown crying.

    She’s telling Lt Benavidez that no one will tell her what’s going on. She’s trying to find out where Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza were shot, and wondering if they are okay.

    Lt Benavidez tries to calm her down and asks people to get her water so that he can talk to her and get more information.

    She says “oh my God” over and over again.

    This is the first time we’ve seen her reaction in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

    There are several screens in the court room, including one directly in front of Gutierrez-Reed, and she’s watching the video for a few seconds at a time and then looking down at her lap.

  17. 'Oh my god... Are they okay' - video shows armourer after shootingpublished at 21:03 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Samantha Granville
    Reporting from court

    A still taken from body camera worn by Lt Benavidez.Image source, US Pool
    Image caption,

    A still taken from body camera worn by Lt Benavidez.

    “This is a crime scene. Everyone needs to stop what they are doing.”

    That was the direction from Lt Benavidez when he arrived on the scene.

    He starts asking for the props manager on set. Someone else takes the Lieutenant to a cart where there are two guns, but it’s not the one that Alec Baldwin was holding.

    It’s a chaotic set with different producers shouting at each other about where the guns are.

    Even though he is a witness for the state, the video is showing the very “chaotic” set described by the defence in their opening arguments. No one appears to know who is in charge or what is going on.

    Hannah Gutierrez-Reed finally appears and says “This is the gun.”

    She looks like she’s been crying

    Lt Benavidez then cleared the gun, meaning it was ammunition free, so that he could collect it for evidence.

    Hannah then appears looking incredibly frazzled. She says to a colleague nearby, “Oh my god... Are they okay? Oh my god.”

    She starts crying hysterically to Lt Benavidez, trying to explain what happened.

    What’s noticeably clear at this point is that all three guns shown to the officer are out, not in cases, as safety standards would have called for.

  18. 'I need to know where the guns are'published at 21:01 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    We're hearing now from Lt Tim Benavidez, who describes to the court how he arrived at the scene and asked crew members where the firearm involved in the shooting was.

    Footage played out in court shows Lt Benavidez tell a senior member of staff: "I need to know where the gun is".

    The video then shows a man in a green hat and a women with dyed hair hand over the revolver to Lt Benavidez, who asks whether it was the weapon used.

    But lawyers ask the officer why he allowed a crew member retrieve the ammunition used in the firearm. Lt Benavidez says he was trying to secure the scene with just three officers.

  19. Officer says attorney showed up at crime scene before police talked to witnessespublished at 20:46 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Samantha Granville
    Reporting from court

    During cross examination, officer Nicholas LeFleur admitted he did not separate the witnesses - as he wishes he should have - to take statements.

    He said his priority was to preserve life first, then preserve evidence.

    He testified that an attorney for Rust Productions showed up at the crime scene and began speaking to witnesses before law enforcement could.

  20. The next witness is calledpublished at 20:42 Greenwich Mean Time 22 February

    Questioning has ended with the court's first witness, police officer Nicholas LaFleur.

    We're now moving onto the next witness in the case, Lt Tim Benavidez.