‘Rust’ Armorer Sentenced To 18 Months Behind Bars For Halyna Hutchins’ Death; “You Alone Turned A Safe Weapon Into A Lethal Weapon,” Judge Says

Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced simply now to 18 months behind bars over the October 2021 deadly capturing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Santa Fe set of the Alec Baldwin starring indie Western.

“You alone turned a secure weapon right into a deadly weapon,” stated Choose Mary Marlow Sommer in her sentencing Monday after rejecting protection pleas for probation and counseling.

Exclaiming that her “coronary heart aches” for what occurred on Rust and the loss of life of Hutchins, Gutierrez-Reed earlier referred to as herself “younger and naive,” chastised the media for portraying her as a “full monster” and advised the courtroom how she had been overworks and beneath resourced on the movie.

“I encourage you please don’t give me extra time,” Gutierrez-Reed pleaded in a short assertion she learn out earlier than being sentenced. Each Gutierrez-Reed and her lawyer requested for probation. “The jury has discovered me partially at fault for this God-awful tragedy however that doesn’t make a monster,” a tearful Gutierrez-Reed stated. “That makes me human.”

Choose Sommer didn’t purchase it, quoting calls Gutierrez-Reed constructed from jail in latest weeks that put the blame for the reside spherical getting within the gun on everybody however herself. “I didn’t hear you’re taking accountability,” the choose stated.

After a two-week trial and simply two hours of deliberation by the jury, Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on March 6. She was was not discovered responsible of proof tampering, which may have elevated her potential sentence to virtually three years. As soon as the jury’s verdict was delivered, Gutierrez-Reed was virtually instantly taken into custody by deputies.

Prosecutors efficiently sought to position the blame on Gutierrez-Reed for the reside rounds moving into the Colt .45 that star Baldwin was holding in a rehearsal. Straight geared toward Hutchins, that gun fired and killed the cinematographer and wounded director Joel Souza over two and a half years in the past. Virtually from the day of Hutchins loss of life, Baldwin has insisted that he didn’t pull the set off. The FBI and unbiased forensic evaluation says in any other case.

Removed from the designer outfits she wore throughout her trial, at this time the clearly emotional Gutierrez-Reed was carrying a beige jail outfit.

Earlier than the sentencing Monday in what Particular Prosecutor Kari Morrissey referred to as an “unprecedented case,” the state advised the courtroom it wished the utmost sentence for Gutierrez-Reed, and for her to designated as a “critical violent offender.” With Gutierrez-Reed and her legal professionals sitting shut by, Morrissey acknowledged to the courtroom that she hoped the previous crew member would have “expressed some stage of regret that was real.”

Citing recordings of almost 200 calls that Gutierrez-Reed made since being incarcerated, Morrissey stated the Rust armorer didn’t take any duty for what occurred on the repeatedly bother set. As a submitting from prosecutors final week revealed, the calls discovered 26-year-old Gutierrez-Reed calling the jurors of seven ladies and 5 males things like “retards,” “idiots” and “a**holes.”

Referring to Rust first assistant director David Halls, who made a plea cope with prosecutors and testified on the trial, Gutierrez-Reed can also be heard on the calls declaring the business vet “f*ked” her “to avoid wasting his personal a**.” 

In individual and nearly, a lot of mates and colleagues of Hutchins, together with her agent Craig Mizrahi of Revolutionary Artists, lawyer Gloria Allred (who represents Hutchins’ mother and father and sister in a California civil case), and Rust director Souza, spoke earlier than the courtroom. In a technique or one other, virtually all of them lamented the “utterly preventable tragedy” and “systemic failure” that occurred on the low finances Rust from the producers in addition to the actions or lack thereof of Gutierrez-Reed.

At one level Allred confirmed the courtroom a video of Hutchins’ mom from battle torn Ukraine. Subtitles on the backside of the video made clear that the grieving Olga Androsovych was outraged that star/producer Baldwin or nobody from the manufacturing got here to her daughter’s funeral on the Hollywood Perpetually cemetary.

One one who didn’t point out the Rust producers was Joel Souza, who’s a producer on the movie in addition to the director and the co-creator of the film’s story with Baldwin.

“What I need is just not doable, I need that none of this ever occurred,” Souza stated on digicam Monday in a brief assertion from a booklined room.  “One second the world made sense and the subsequent minute it didn’t,” he went on to state.  “I need everybody broken by Ms. Reed failures that day to search out peace,’ he concluded, placing emphasis on the loss that Hutchins’ younger son, husband and household have suffered.  

The sentencing by Choose Mary Marlowe Sommer comes with Baldwin’s trial for involuntary manslaughter set to start out on July 9. It additionally comes simply over two weeks after Gutierrez-Reed’s Jason Bowles-led protection staff failed of their try to get their shopper out of the Santa Fe County Grownup Detention Facility and to get a brand new trial. “Take into account there was a loss of life that the jury decided was attributable to her so I’m not releasing her,” stated Choose Sommer in a digital listening to on March 29.

Bowles has stated he’ll attraction the decision.

Baldwin is dealing with as much as 18 months behind bars of discovered responsible in his personal trial. Because the a number of Emmy winner was recharged within the Rust case again in January, Baldwin’s NYC-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan legal professionals and Albuquerque agency LeBlanc Regulation have referred to as the matter “an abuse of the system” and tried to get the case dismissed.

Calling Baldwin’s strikes filled with “lies and manipulation,” Morrissey added in an April 5 response, “the defendant’s movement to dismiss is a predictably false, deceptive, and histrionic misrepresentation of the details and circumstances of the case.” She additionally famous that Baldwin was supplied a plea deal similar to that David Halls took, however had it rescinded after prosecutors found Baldwin was allegedly “actively pressuring materials witness within the case towards him to submit for interviews for his documentary.”

 It’s unclear if this documentary about Hutchins that the prosecutors are citing is the one which was a part of the settlement Baldwin and different Rust producer included of their October 2022 settlement with widower Matthew Hutchins to finish his wrongful loss of life lawsuit.

One other a part of that settlement was that Matthew Hutchins would turn into an govt producer on a resurrected Rust movie. With Baldwin again as star and producer, and Souza again directing, the film began filming in Montana at the Yellowstone Movie Ranch in late April final yr. The finished Rust has been out to patrons for a number of months, however as of but seems to haven’t been picked up.