'Rust' set manager's plea deal to be considered Friday

By Andrew Hay

(Reuters) - A Santa Fe judge on Friday was to consider a plea deal that could bring the first conviction for the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust" in New Mexico.

Dave Halls, first assistant director on "Rust," in January entered an agreement with prosecutors to plead no contest to the misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon for his role in Hutchins' death.

Santa Fe District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer was to preside over a virtual hearing in Halls' case scheduled for noon ET on Friday.

Hutchins was killed when actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round from a revolver while rehearsing. As first assistant director, Halls was responsible for set safety on "Rust."

Baldwin pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for firearms safety and training, will enter the same plea, according to her lawyer. They were the only others charged in the case.

Halls told police he should have checked more carefully that the rounds Gutierrez-Reed loaded into the revolver Baldwin used were inert dummies.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson and Leslie Adler)