‘Rust’ armorer gets 18-month sentence
Was convicted in fatal shooting on movie set
SANTA FE, N.M. — A movie weapons supervisor was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” during a hearing Monday in which tearful family members and friends gave testimonials that included calls for justice and a punishment that would instill greater accountability for safety on film sets.
Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-reed was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Gutierrez-reed was unsuccessful in her plea for a lesser sentencing, telling the judge she was not the monster that people have made her out to be and that she had tried to do her best on the set despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing.”
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is scheduled for trial in July at a courthouse in Santa Fe.
The sentence against Gutierrez-reed was delivered by New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is overseeing proceedings against Baldwin. The judge said anything less than the maximum sentence would not be appropriate given that Gutierrez-reed’s recklessness amounted to a serious violent offense.
“You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone,” the judge told Gutierrez-reed.
“You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you,
Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”
The judge indicated that summary transcripts of Gutierrez-reed’s telephone conversations from jail weighed in the sentencing.
“Hannah says that people have accidents and people die, it’s an unfortunate part of life but it doesn’t mean she should be in jail,” Marlowe Sommer said. “The word ‘remorse’ — a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs — that’s not you.”
Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred read a statement by Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, who said her life had been split in two and that time didn’t heal, rather it only prolonged her pain and suffering. A video of a tearful Solovey, who lives in Ukraine, also was played for the court.
“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child. There’s no words to describe,” Solovey said in her native language.
The Ukrainian relatives of
Hutchins are seeking damages in her death from Baldwin in connection with the shooting.