The head armorer on the set of the Western film "Rust" was sentenced to 18 months behind bars for the 2021 fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by the movie's lead actor Alec Baldwin.
According to the National Pulse, New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer laid down the sentence on Gutierrez-Reed on April 15. The movie weapons supervisor was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. According to an email by defense attorney Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed plans to appeal the judgment and the sentence.
While the defendant was unsuccessful in her plea for a lower sentencing, she was cleared of allegations of evidence tampering during the "Rust" investigation. She has also pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she supposedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe where firearms are banned.
Sommer said during the hearing that anything less than the maximum sentence would not be suitable, given that Gutierrez-Reed's recklessness was equal to a serious violent offense. "You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapons that could kill someone. You alone turned a safe weapons into a lethal weapon," the magistrate remarked.
Defense attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed requested leniency in sentencing, along with a probable conditional discharge that would avoid additional jail time and leave a judgment of guilt off her record if certain conditions are met. They stressed her somewhat young age of 26 "and the devastating effect a felony will have on her life going forward."
But prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for accidentally bringing live ammunition on the movie set, where it was expressly forbidden, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey even described the armorer's behavior on the set of "Rust" as "unusually reckless." Morrissey also asked Sommer to enforce the maximum prison sentence and label Gutierrez-Reed as a "serious violent offender" to limit her eligibility for a sentence reduction down the road.
Baldwin also faces possible jail term over Hutchins' death
Nevertheless, Gutierrez-Reed may not be the only person who faces a jail sentence for Hutchins' death. Baldwin, who was the star of the film and its co-producer, was charged a second time with involuntary manslaughter by a grand jury in January. He has pleaded not guilty to this charge, and is scheduled for trial on July 10 at a Santa Fe courthouse. (Related: Alec Baldwin indicted for involuntary manslaughter over fatal on-set shooting, could face up to 18 months in prison.)
The actor who starred in the films "The Departed" and "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" stands accused of killing Hutchins either through neglect or "total disregard or indifference" for safety on set. Baldwin 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 the Ukrainian-born cinematographer and wounding director Joel Souza.
Bowles contended that the armorer was being set up as a scapegoat and that Baldwin was accountable for Hutchins' death. "It was not in the script for Baldwin to point the weapon. She didn't know that Mr. Baldwin was going to do what he did," the defense attorney said in the same email.
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Watch the video below about why Alec Baldwin could be charged again in the fatal "Rust" on-set shooting.
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