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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the far-too-young armorer for indie film Rust, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. As the film’s armorer, Hannah’s job was to supervise the use of all prop weapons on set and instruct actors how to use them safely. Standard safety precautions include only using blanks, and always making sure the gun is not directed at any cast, crew, or animals. Instead, Hannah brought live rounds onto set, and provided star and producer Alec Baldwin a loaded gun that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, while in Baldwin’s hands (Baldwin maintains that he never fired the trigger). Given the facts, prosecutors asked that Hannah receive the maximum possible sentence of 18 months. At sentencing yesterday, the judge agreed:
No accountability, no responsibility: “I did not hear you take accountability in your allocution. You said you were sorry, but not (that) you were sorry for what you did,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in announcing the sentence. “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” the judge said. “But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner, and a little boy would have his mother.” … Prosecutors had asked she be sentenced to the maximum prison time, citing a “complete and total failure to accept responsibility for her actions.” In contrast, the defense had asked she be released on probation, arguing she has no prior criminal history and has a “record of prior good works and positive things.” She has been in custody since her conviction. Her defense attorney Jason Bowles told CNN they plan to appeal.
Hannah read a statement in court: “First and foremost, my heart aches for Hutchins’ family and friends and colleagues as well and it has since the day this tragedy occurred,” she said. “Halyna has been and always will be an inspiration to me. I understand she was taken too soon and I pray that you all find peace.” She asked the judge to sentence her to probation. “Your honor, when I took on Rust I was young and I was naive, but I took my job as seriously as I knew how to. Despite not having proper time, resources and staffing, when things got tough I just did my best to handle it. The jury has found me in part at fault for this godawful tragedy, but that doesn’t make me a monster, that makes me human,” she said.
Pre-sentencing arguments from both sides: In a sentencing memo dated April 10, Gutierrez-Reed’s defense team requested she be released on probation with conditions set by the judge and undergo counseling and rehabilitative efforts. She feels “incredibly saddened and heart broken by what happened on that tragic day on the Rust set,” the memo said. In an April 12 court filing responding to the defense memo, prosecutors requested Gutierrez-Reed be sentenced to 18 months in prison, arguing she “continues to deny responsibility and blame others.” Prosecutors also cited jail calls in which Gutierrez-Reed allegedly complained “about the negative affects this incident has had on her life” and called the jurors derogatory names.
When we heard last month that Hannah was having a hard time in jail, I could understand objectively how the situation must be difficult for her, even if I agreed with the conviction. But between her statement and the prosecution’s account of her calls from jail… my reserves of empathy are dwindling. The judge was right, Hannah didn’t take any kind of responsibility. Though she claimed to have taken her job seriously, the actual words Hannah chose showed no hint of ownership for that job. If anything it was the opposite, with her argument essentially boiling down to “Don’t punish me because I didn’t mean to.” Then to think that while Hannah delivered her statement before the judge, that judge had already seen a filing on Hannah complaining “about the negative affects this incident has had on her life,” AND of her name calling the jurors?! I hope Hannah finds a way towards seeing herself honestly and, with help, learning and growing from this tragedy. Because she is human, that much she said was true. But that isn’t a ticket to writing off criminal behavior. Being human is a promise to do better; let’s hope she takes that job seriously.
As for Baldwin, he was also charged last year for involuntary manslaughter, his charges were dropped a few months later, and then he was indicted again this year. His trial is expected to begin in July, though his defense has filed a motion to have the indictment dismissed.
The judge made the right decision.
Yeah her ‘poor little me I’m the victim and everyone is being mean to me’ attitude didn’t do her any favours. She clearly thinks she’s being stitched up – she isn’t, she brought LIVE ammo to the set, she LET crew play with the the guns (with the live ammo) like they were toys and then didn’t do her job properly. Yes there were others who fkd up but they will face justice, just like she did.
I agree. She even tried the ‘I was so young when I took on this job” card. She was an adult and probably pulled strings through her father to get the job. It’s not like the overwhelming responsibility was thrown at her. People under 20 get married, go to war, have children, or/and take care of ailing parents and orphaned siblings. About the inadequate resources: the low budget didn’t make her bring the live rounds on set.
Digital Unicorn, I agree that her attitude made the judge throw the book at her harder. Reading her words is infuriating and I’m an outsider. Imagine what Halyna’s loved ones feel about it. I’m not sure what to think about Baldwin’s involvement. IIRC he was reassured previously that the gun was cold, but he should have checked before firing at someone point blank. Especially because he probably knew about the staff playing around with live ammo.
Nepotism gone very very wrong.
From what was said by outside professionals around the time the shooting occurred, there’s supposed to be a strict protocol about how firearms are handled on set, what and whose responsibilities are at each stage. That protocol is supposed to ensure that the gun truly is cold at the point it’s given to the actor. If Baldwin had checked the gun himself, it would have violated the chain of procedure, which would have to be started all over again. The problems were multiple, starting with, proper procedures weren’t followed. They wanted to save money, the armorer was inexperienced, for some unknown and unforgivable reason live ammunition was permitted on the set. I vaguely recall questions about the age/type? of weapons being used, and of course, there’s the question of whether or not a real weapon needed to be there at all (and actually pointed at anyone).
Overall though, from what I read, there were such egregious issues around that whole production, that Baldwin, as a producer, and even being present as an actor, should have seen the red flags and had them addressed.
Personally, she deserved even more time.
That was the max the Judge could give her under NM sentencing guidelines for that charge. But what I loved the Judge made sure it was going to stick as a violent crime / felony. So she hopefully will be banned from ever owning a gun again.
💯 agree. Bringing live ammo to the set resulted in death.
I will never understand why she brought the live ammo. I hate guns. They exist for one reason.
And there is no reason to use a real one on a movie set! Hire actors who can ACT like they’re using a real gun!
Since she’s been found guilty, I wonder if it’s a done deal for Alec Baldwin now (under respondeat superior–he is responsible for her actions and the buck stops with him).
Nah. He has the perfect defense. Someone was already convicted and also in his case, not his responsibility as an actor on set to check the work of those responsible for gun and weapons safety. The guy is unlikeable but the charges against him aren’t legally sound.
As far as I know, the outlined procedures for using firearms on set involve the armorer taking the gun to the director to show it is unloaded, then the director takes the gun and shows it to the actor involved to prove it is unloaded. Then filming or rehearsal begins. These multiple checks are supposed to be safeguards on top of safeguards to prevent what happened to Ms. Hutchins. I mean, there is a reason this sort of death hasn’t really happened on a US production in over two decades. If it can be established that Baldwin did not follow the established procedures, I am not so sure he can weasel his way out. If there are any celebitches working in film/TV, I would be interested in hearing their thoughts on this.
he was not simply an actor. he was also producer. which means that everything that happens (and what the people he hired did) ultimately IS his responsibility. he did not run a safe set. he ran a cheap set. he should not get away with it just because he is famous.
He was a PRODUCER and he put his own money into making the film. As such, he had a responsibility to ensure a safe workplace for the people he was paying. The production cheaped out on hiring a qualified armorer and an assistant. More than one veteran prop master turned the job down because it was unsafe, and told them so. So they hired an immature nepo baby to do both jobs and then failed to supervise her work.
Multiple people had reported unsafe practices before the shooting. Seven people from the camera crew had walked off the set THE DAY BEFORE the incident because of safety concerns including gun handling and MORE THAN ONE negligent discharge. (Note: a single negligent discharge that results in zero damage can be punished with 3 months confinement and docked pay in the military, because maintaining full control of the gun at all times is a matter of life and death.)
He had years of experience handling guns. He was trained on the 4 rules of gun safety. Forensics have established that he pulled the trigger despite his repeated denials, because the the gun could not have fired merely from pulling the hammer back. He has the most blood on his hands and he’s going to pull the same “poor me it’s someone else’s fault” defense when it’s his turn in court. I hope he gets at least 3 years.
Reportedly she kept calling the jurors idiots, blamed the medic for not being prepared, claimed the judge targeted her out of spite, and said jail was kind of like summer camp and she was having fun.
She also has an unrelated felony charge pending for sneaking a gun into a bar because she filmed a selfie video in the bar’s bathroom joking about how she broke the law.
She’s an idiot taking no accountability and is a danger to anyone around her. The max sentence was appropriate.
She is even worse than I thought. She sounds like she doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.
A woman died because she wasn’t responsible. 18 months isn’t anything next to that one fact.
Now, I do wonder what would have happened to Alec Baldwin if he was an unknown actor. But that doesn’t change the fact that she was reckless.
“…That doesn’t make me a monster, that makes me human.” Hate to break it to you, but everybody in prison is human. God, this rubbed me the wrong way.
Yeah no she is actually a monster. An immature irresponsible unrepentant self-centered selfish monster.
I watched the sentencing live and she did a lot of eye rolling and sighing during the victim impact statements which showed how much she was inconvenienced by the whole thing! I wish she had gotten more time. I don’t think she felt any remorse. The only time I saw any emotion was when she begged for probation.
18 months is NOT enough. She was grossly irresponsible, and her actions or lack of proper actions directly lead to someone’s death. She needed YEARS not months.