Courtroom Technology and the Visual Trial: The Rust Shooting

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer of the film “Rust” was found guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter for the 2021 on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Alec Baldwin fired the fatal bullet believing that the gun was a cold gun and did not contain live ammunition. At Ms. Reed’s trial the prosecutor relied on visual evidence, film, pictures, and visual enhancements to prove that Ms. Reed’s reckless conduct caused the death of Halyna Hutchins. Jurors crave visual evidence and studies indicate that the human brain quickly processes visual information and that we retain sixty percent of what we see and only ten to twenty percent of what we read and hear. In this presentation, attendees will watch film clips of this trial and learn evidentiary foundations to admit visual evidence and to successfully display this evidence to the jury. The goal of this presentation is for attendees to understand the benefits of using visual evidence and obtain technological skill to seamlessly present this evidence in court.

Attorneys will learn ten tips on how to deal with difficult clients. Finally, attendees will examine why Kya did not report a sexual assault to the police and whether this failure to report is common in today’s society.  

The goal of this program is for attendees to learn litigation skills while discussing this amazing story.