Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s demand for a new trial after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter will be an “uphill battle,” an expert told Fox News Digital.
The “Rust” armorer will return to court Friday to argue for a new trial and an immediate release from prison. Gutierrez Reed faces up to 18 months in prison, in addition to a $5,000 fine, after a jury convicted her of involuntary manslaughter in early March in the shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”
“Gutierrez Reed has an uphill battle both in her motion for a new trial and eventual appeal,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital. “Though the judge ruled that the jurors have to be unanimous on the manslaughter charge (there were two), they did not have to be unanimous on how the live rounds got on set.
“That is generally a correct statement of the law,” he added. “The verdict has to be unanimous, but not how the jurors get there.”
The armorer’s trial, which began Feb. 21, included testimony from weapons experts, FBI and Santa Fe County authorities and crew members who witnessed the fatal shooting.
However, her legal team doesn’t believe the jury was given proper instructions. According to Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, the instructions “could confuse the jury and lead to a non-unanimous verdict.”
