Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The woman who was overseeing the use of weapons on the movie set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer agreed Friday to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have provided court testimony from dozens of people, including eyewitnesses to the shooting.

Arizona-based armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in a court filing, waived her right to a courtroom review of evidence on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Gutierrez-Reed also waived her right to a review of charges by a grand jury.

Defense attorney Jason Bowles has described Hutchins' death on Oct. 21, 2021, as a tragic accident and says that Gutierrez-Reed committed no crime. Gutierrez-Reed has not entered a plea to charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence-tempering. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.

“Rust” safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls has pleaded no contest to a charge of unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months’ probation.

In April, prosecutors dropped charges against Baldwin, who was pointing a gun at Hutchins when it went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza.

That left Gutierrez-Reed as the sole remaining defendant in the case.