New Mexico prosecutors on Friday showed jurors in the trial of “Rust” gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez’s text messages in which she said she smoked to “enjoy” the night before a fatal accident on set in October 2021. Reuters reports.

the set of the film RustPhoto: Jae C. Hong/AP/Profimedia

In court filings, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez’s use of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol in the evenings after the shooting may have impaired his concentration and thinking at work on Oct. 21, 2021, when he accidentally loaded a live bullet into a gun that actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with.

No drugs were mentioned in the text messages sent on Friday, the second day of court testimony.

An expert witness for the prosecution who reviewed text messages on Gutierrez’s phone testified Friday and showed messages in which she says at 7:48 p.m. on Oct. 20, 2021, she was “going to do drugs in her back.” About half an hour later, she texts “still smoking”.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey told Reuters she did not plan to call an expert witness on drug use because no blood tests were done after the fatal stabbing of cameraman Galina Hutchins.

Gutierrez’s lawyers have argued that prosecutors’ allegations of drug use are speculative, unsubstantiated and an attempt to infer character flaws and sway jurors against her.

Hutchins was killed when Alec Baldwin, who was rehearsing, fired a live bullet, hitting her in the chest.

Legal experts say that if prosecutors convince jurors that Gutierrez was intoxicated on set, where she was in charge of firearms safety, she could be convicted of involuntary manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 18 months.

Gutierrez is also charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly passing a bag of cocaine to a teammate after the incident to prevent police from finding it.

Gutierrez pleaded not guilty to both charges.