Hannah Guttierez-Reed, the primary weapons handler on the set of the ill-fated indie film Rust, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the fatal, on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The young armorer cried as her fate was read aloud to her in court today by a judge who reprimanded her for her apparent lack of remorse.
‘Your attorney had to tell the court you were remorseful,’ said Judge Mary Marlow Sommer.
Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March by a jury, making her the first crewmember to be convicted in the accidental shooting death of Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin, 66.
Gutierrez-Reed, 27, was found guilty after a jury determined she had mistakenly loaded a live round into a revolver Baldwin was using on set.
Baldwin’s criminal trial is set to begin on July 10, after a grand jury indicted him for involuntary manslaughter back in January.
Rust armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was a mother-of-one and up-and-coming cinematographer when she was fatally shot on the set of the Alec Baldwin-produced indie Western ‘Rust’
The onset weapons professional, who is the step-daughter of Thell Reed – an esteemed Hollywood gun trainer – was sentenced by New Mexico District Court Judge Sommer.
Attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed requested she be given a sentence of probation, but prosecutors argued for the 18-months due to an apparent lack of remorse from the defendant.
Judge Sommer sided with the prosecutors, delivering the full recommended sentence to Gutierrez-Reed after it was pointed out that she had called jurors ‘idiots’ and said the judge had been ‘paid off’ during phone calls she made from jail.
She also continued to blame Baldwin and others on set and on the production team for the shooting.
Following her conviction last month, she spent a month in Sante Fe county jail.
After her sentence was delivered, the judge said: ‘you were the armorer who stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone. For you, she would be alive.’
Gutierrez-Reed, who appeared in a khaki prison look today, wiped away tears as Hutchins’ former agent Craig Mizrahi read to the court a victim impact statement, as did the film’s director Joel Souza – who was also shot on set – and Hutchins’ mourning mother.
Her mother, Olga Solovey, who lives in Ukraine and delivered her statement via a pre-recorded video with subtitles, cried through her speech, saying: ‘The day of her death ruined my entire life. It’s heart-wrenching to see her child grow without his mother.’
She said that when Matt – Halyna’s husband – called to say she was dead, ‘I was screaming and kept pleading with him. Time does not heal. It is two-and-a-half years past and it gets worse and worse.’
One of Hutchins’ best friends said before the court: ‘The last four words she ever said to me [were] ‘I believe in you.’ Those four words will forever echo in my soul.’
The judge said the Rust armorer was given the length of her sentence because of her failure to show remorse
Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the fatal, on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
Alec Baldwin, seen here last month leaving his apartment building with wife Hilaria, will face a criminal trial in July for the shooting death of Hutchins. He has consistently maintained his innocence, but Guttierez-Reed’s attorneys claim the environment he created on set led to Hutchins’ death
Hutchins was accidentally shot dead during filming on the set of Rust in October 2021 when a gun Alec Baldwin was practicing with discharged live ammo that was the responsibility of Gutierrez-Reed
Prosecutors said that Gutierrez-Reed wants Baldwin, who fired the gun that killed Hutchins, to go to jail as well and refuses to testify at his upcoming trial because ‘she shouldn’t be subpoenaed if Baldwin didn’t show up for her’
Guttierez-Reed shuffled into court Monday wearing a khaki jail outfit and handcuffs
At her two week trial, which concluded last month, Gutierrez-Reed was blamed for brining live ammunition onto the Rust set, where it should never have been.
She was accused of failing to follow basic gun safety protocol, which one of the main tenets of her role on set.
Following a deliberation that took less than two hours, a Santa Fe jury found her guilty on March 6.
During the preceding three-week trial, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed unwittingly brought live Colt .45 rounds onto the New Mexico set, something that has now been allowed by SAG safety guidelines for close to 100 years.
The young professional’s attorney, Jason Bowles, argued his client was a scapegoat for a disorganized production where she was not given time to do her job properly.
He blamed Huthchins’ tragic death on the reckless and unscripted use of firearms by the film’s star, Baldwin, in addition to his efforts as a producer to rush along the production of the film.
Baldwin has denied pulling the trigger nd said he had been directed to aim the weapon at the camera. FBI and private firearms experts determined the gun would not have fired without the trigger being pulled.
He has repeatedly attempted to get the charges against him dropped, most recently in the direct aftermath of Guttierez-Reed’s guilty verdict. It was reported last year that Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, will testify against Baldwin at his criminal trial.
Hutchins was killed when Baldwin pointed his gun at the cinematographer and cocked the weapon as she set up a scene.
Craig Mizrahi – Hutchins’ former agent – gave a victim impact statement Monday about the devastating toll Halyna’s death has had on her husband and son
Olga Solovey, Hutchins’ mother, spoke in a pre-recorded video about the ongoing devastation she experiences in the wake of her daughter’s death
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed poses for mugshot after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter – she’s spent the last month in jail
Baldwin, Hutchins and armorer Gutierrez-Reed are circled on the set of Rust
Bowles also made the case that because of the high-profile nature of the case, Guttierez-Reed ‘will continue to endure collateral consequences far harsher than most defendants ever must face.’ He previously revealed plans to appeal the conviction and sentence.
He also said that his client has received death threats and has entered therapy.
In July, prosecutors will make the case that Baldwin, who was a producer on the doomed film, shares responsibility for Hutchins’ tragic end.
They’ve said he had no ability to regulate his emotions in the weeks leading up the shooting and was pressuring the crew to work quickly and ‘routinely compromised safety.’