Hannah Guttierez-Reed, the chief gun handler on the set of the ill-fated indie film Rust, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set.
The young gunsmith cried as a judge read her fate aloud to her in court and chastised her for her apparent lack of remorse.
“Your attorney had to tell the court that you were remorseful,” Judge Mary Marlow Sommer said.
Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March by a jury, making her the first crew member 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 bullet into a revolver Baldwin was using on set.
Baldwin’s criminal trial will begin July 10, after a grand jury indicted him on involuntary manslaughter in January.
Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was a mother of one and a promising cinematographer when she was fatally shot on the set of the independent western ‘Rust,’ produced by Alec Baldwin.
The first gun pro, who is the stepdaughter of Thell Reed, an esteemed Hollywood gun trainer, was sentenced by Judge Sommer of the District Court of New Mexico.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys requested that he be given a sentence of probation, but prosecutors requested the 18 months due to an apparent lack of remorse on the defendant’s part.
Judge Sommer sided with prosecutors and handed the full recommended sentence to Gutierrez-Reed after it was noted that she had called jurors “idiots” and said the judge had been “compensated” during the calls. telephone calls he made from prison.
He also continued to blame Baldwin and others on set and the production team for the filming.
Following his conviction last month, he spent a month in Santa Fe County Jail.
After handing down the sentence, the judge said: ‘You were the gunsmith standing between a safe gun and a gun that could kill someone. For you, she would be alive.
Gutierrez-Reed, who appeared today in a khaki prison look, wiped away tears as Hutchins’ former agent, Craig Mizrahi, read a victim impact statement in court, as did the film’s director Joel Souza, who was also shot on the set, and Hutchins. mourning mother
One of Hutchins’ best friends told the court: “The last four words he said to me [were] ‘I believe in you.’ Those four words will always resonate in my soul.’
The judge said Rust’s gunsmith was given the length of his sentence because he showed no remorse.
Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed during the filming of Rust in October 2021 when Alec Baldwin was practicing with a gun with unloaded live ammunition that was Gutiérrez-Reed’s responsibility.
Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Reed wants Baldwin, who fired the gun that killed Hutchins, to also go to jail and is refusing to testify at her upcoming trial because “she shouldn’t be subpoenaed if Baldwin didn’t show up to see her.”
Guttierez-Reed arrived at court Monday wearing a khaki jail jumpsuit and handcuffs.
At her two-week trial, which concluded last month, Gutierrez-Reed was blamed for bringing live ammunition to the set of Rust, where it should never have been.
She was accused of not following basic gun safety protocol, which is one of the main tenets of her role on set.
After a deliberation that lasted less than two hours, a Santa Fe jury found her guilty on March 6.
During the previous three-week trial, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly introduced live Colt .45 bullets onto the New Mexico set, something that has now been permitted by SAG safety guidelines for nearly 100 years. .
The young professional’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, argued that his client was a scapegoat for a disorganized production in which he was not given time to do his job properly.
He blamed Huthchins’ tragic death on the film’s star, Baldwin,’s reckless and unscripted use of firearms, in addition to his efforts as a producer to speed up the film’s production.
Baldwin denied pulling the trigger and said he had been ordered to point the gun at the camera. FBI and private firearms experts determined that the gun would not have fired without pulling the trigger.
Bowles also argued that due to the high-profile nature of the case, Guttierez-Reed “will continue to endure collateral consequences far harsher than most defendants will ever have to face.” He previously revealed plans to appeal the conviction and sentence.
He also said his client has received death threats and has entered therapy.
In July, prosecutors will argue that Baldwin, who was a producer on the doomed film, shares responsibility for Hutchins’ tragic end.
They said he lacked the ability to regulate his emotions in the weeks before the shooting and was pressuring the team to work quickly and “routinely compromised security.”