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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A judge Wednesday said he will give Alec Baldwin's attorneys more time to show why the armorer who allegedly failed to check the prop weapon that was handed to the actor before it discharged and killed "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 should remain a cross- defendant in Baldwin's countersuit against another party in the case.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker said the 64-year-old actor's attorneys had not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that a California court has personal jurisdiction over 25-year-old Hannah Gutierrez- Reed, who lives in New Mexico where the accident occurred.
Gutierrez-Reed has never owned or operated any business in California and only worked for two days as a production assistant in 2015, the judge noted. She has never been a member of a union in California and although she occasionally used the residence of a friend living in California as a mailing address, she never resided there, the judge further said.
The judge said Baldwin's supplemental papers in favor of finding jurisdiction are due April 7 and that Wednesday's hearing was being continued to April 26.
Baldwin's countersuit against Gutierrez-Reed and other crew members alleges that live ammunition was negligently put in the gun that he was holding when it discharged during rehearsal, killing the 42-year-old Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, now 49.
The countersuit stems from an underlying complaint by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, who sued Baldwin and other crew members alleging she suffered emotional distress from being so close to the shooting. Baldwin wants to be indemnified by the other crew members in the event he is held liable to Mitchell.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have both been charged in New Mexico with involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death. Assistant Director David Halls, also named in Baldwin' countersuit, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of negligent use of a deadly weapon and received a suspended six-month sentence of unsupervised probation.