The armourer on the film Rust has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, sat for victims impact statements and was read her sentence in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Monday.
In March, Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, in 2021.
Hutchins, mother of a young son, was rehearsing a scene with the film's producer and star Alec Baldwin when he drew a replica pistol and fired. But the gun contained a live round which hit Hutchins in the chest, which ultimately killed her.
During the victim impact statements, Joel Souza, the director on Rust, addressed the court. Mr Souza was also wounded on the Rust set when the bullet that killed Hutchins exited her body and hit him in the shoulder.
He said he could not have what he really wanted — for Hutchins to still be alive and for all of the people affected by the shooting to be at “peace.”
“I want everyone damaged by Ms Reed's failures that day to find peace ... I want the pain to go away, I want to be the person I was before this happened, and above all I want Halyna to be back with her husband and son in the home she never got to live in,” he told the court.
Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, also issued a pre-recorded video statement and through a written note read in court by famed attorney Gloria Allred.
“Time does not heal, it simply prolongs my pain and suffering,” she wrote. “I have hope that the guilty, those that are responsible for the death of my daughter, will be punished fairly and be sentenced justly. Justice must prevail.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s job was to make sure all firearms and ammunition on set were accounted for, controlled, and safely handled.
The prosecutors' case centered on Gutierrez-Reed's lack of professionalism when compared to other Hollywood armourers. She routinely left firearms and ammunition lying around the set, prosecutors said, describing her work as “sloppy”. The jury was shown videos of numerous instances in which firearms were not being handled properly by actors. One clip showed Gutierrez-Reed holding a shotgun with the barrel pointed up at her own head.
Witnesses who worked on the set testified that her work station was less organised than other armourers they’d worked with in the past.
Ross Addiego, who worked as a dolly grip on Rust, told the court that he had worked with at least a dozen other armourers during his career and described them as “uptight” and “anal retentive” because they typically hold the lives of others in their hands. By contrast, he said Gutierez-Reed was “less professional” than those armourers, noting that he would see ammunition and gunbelts lying around the set unsecured.
“She wasn’t necessarily as serious or professional as I am accustomed to with the other armourers that I’m familiar with,” Mr Addiego testified. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an armourer pull loose ammo out of a fanny pack.”
Her defence had argued that Baldwin and the film's production team used Gutierrez-Reed as a scapegoat. They argued that it was Baldwin who pulled the trigger, and that his influence created a rushed, dangerous climate on set. They added that Gutierrez-Reed was doing her best to keep up but was thwarted by unrealistic expectations from the production team.
“You’re going hear again Mr Baldwin — one of the lead producers, head actor in the movie, who really controlled the set — you’re going to hear that he violated some of the most basic gun-safety rules you can ever learn,” Gutierrez-Reed’s defence attorney, Jason Bowles said during his opening arguments.
“From a young age, we all learn you don’t point a gun at somebody ever unless you want to shoot them. You treat all guns as loaded, and you keep your finger out of the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. [Baldwin] violated all those.”
Prosecutors in Santa Fe wanted Gutierrez-Reed to spend 18 months behind bars, the longest sentence possible for the charges.
In calls from jail made to her mother, boyfriend and her attorney’s paralegal, Gutierrez-Reed has blamed Hutchin’s death on the doctor and paramedics on set.
She also claimed that the judge and special prosecutor’s office conspired against her and called the jurors who convicted her "idiots" and "a**holes," according to prosecutors’ filings on Friday.
