Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is serving an 18-month sentence for involuntary manslaughter, made the statement during a recorded prison phone call weeks ago
Weeks before the special prosecutors in Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case filed a motion asking the court to force the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to testify at the actor’s upcoming trial, she shared some thoughts about the Emmy winner.
According to court documents filed in April by Kari T. Morrissey, one of the same special prosecutors in the Baldwin case, Gutierrez-Reed, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March, railed against Baldwin, 66, in recorded prison phone calls, saying she wants to see him “in jail.”
The documents, which outlined prosecutors’ objection to Gutierrez-Reed’s request for a conditional discharge (probation in lieu of a prison sentence), did not contain transcripts of the calls with family members and others, but rather summarized the calls.
To drive home their argument that Gutierrez-Reed — who inadvertently put live ammunition in the prop gun Baldwin was holding on set in 2021 when it discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza — displayed a “total failure to accept responsibility,” they cited her prison calls.
In various separate conversations, Gutierrez-Reed allegedly called prosecutor Morrissey a “bitch,” referred to members of the jury as “a——-” and said she is “mad that the whole thing got pinned on her.”
Hannah Gutierrez Reed and paralegal Carmella Sisneros in court April 15.
Eddie Moore-Pool/Getty
“Hannah wants them to put Alec Baldwin in jail also,” according to a summary of one call.
In another call, “Hannah says that if she is subpoenaed to Baldwin’s trial she will not show up.”
Asked about the content of the calls revealed in the documents, Jason Bowles, an attorney for Gutierrez-Reed tells PEOPLE, “It’s really unfair to characterize or cherry pick comments someone may or may not have made while they were upset and very recently incarcerated. But, many aspects of this prosecution have displayed no concern for fairness in favor of a win at all costs attitude.”
Baldwin’s lawyers did have Gutierrez-Reed on their recent witness lists, but at a May 14 pretrial interview, she invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege.
Gutierrez-Reed, who is appealing her conviction, is entitled to invoke the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid incriminating herself at her appeal, according to legal expert Emily D. Baker, a former L.A. deputy district attorney who is not involved with the case.
But prosecutors have asked the court to force Gutierrez-Reed to testify at Baldwin’s July trial and grant her “use immunity,” which means anything she potentially says at won’t be used against her.
As PEOPLE previously reported, the prosecutors warned the court that if Gutierrez-Reed “is not granted use immunity the defendant will likely attempt to have her previous statements admitted…This requires the defendant to demonstrate that Ms. Gutierrez is unavailable due to the assertion of her Fifth Amendment privilege.”
Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
John Lamparski/Getty; Jim Weber/Pool/Getty
If Gutierrez-Reed doesn’t testify, Baldwin’s attorneys could then show clips of her prior police interviews. “In her interviews she’s very clear saying she should have checked [the gun] better,” says Baker. “Those types of statements where she’s accepting responsibility” are beneficial to Baldwin.
Because of that, putting Gutierrez-Reed on his witness list was a shrewd legal movie, according to Baker: “She would be able to plead the Fifth, is then unavailable and then he can use some of the clips.”
In court papers filed in May, Morrissey alleged that Baldwin floated a proposal to Gutierrez-Reed and her lawyer in the aftermath of the shooting.
“Mr. Baldwin essentially stated that he would issue a public statement relating to the events leading up to the killing of Ms. Hutchins…stating that he (Mr. Baldwin) did not think Ms. Gutierrez did anything wrong and that he had no issues with her. In exchange, Mr. Baldwin asked that Ms. Gutierrez and her team not ‘slam’ him in the press as it relates to the statements that he made that he did not pull the trigger,” according to the document.
The former 30 Rock star said in an ABC interview in 2021 that he did not pull the trigger of the prop gun he was holding and had no idea how it accidentally contained live ammunition.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, he faces up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin’s trial is scheduled to begin July 10.
