'Rust' armorer sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter conviction

“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month in the 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.

Though Alec Baldwin, 66, pulled the trigger, a jury found Gutierrez-Reed had erroneously loaded a live round into a revolver he was using on the Santa Fe, New Mexico, movie set.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer addressed phone calls Gutierrez-Reed made from jail, citing comments she made to family and friends as evidence she had failed to take accountability.

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“In your allocution you said you were sorry but not … sorry for what you did,” Marlowe Sommer said. “It was your attorney that had to tell the court that you were remorseful.

“The word remorse: a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs,” she continued. “That’s not you.”

Gutierrez-Reed has been in custody since the Santa Fe jury found her guilty on March 6, following a multi-week trial. The movie-set armorer faced up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine for her role in the accidental shooting death of Hutchins, a cinematographer on set of the low-budget Western, in October 2021. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer Jason Bowles requested she be given probation as she had no previous criminal record.

The jury took about two hours to reach its verdict, with one juror afterward saying Gutierrez-Reed had not done “her job” to ensure weapons safety on set.

Gutierrez-Reed made a statement before the court, saying her “heart aches” for Hutchins’ family, friends and the film industry at large. The armorer requested the judge sentence her to probation, noting she would accept any classes she ordered.

“I am saddened by the way the media sensationalized our traumatic tragedy and portrayed me as a complete monster, which has actually been the total opposite of what’s in my heart,” she said.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, armorer for the Western movie “Rust,” walks out of a Santa Fe, New Mexico, courthouse during her involuntary manslaughter trial on Feb. 27, 2024.

In an emailed statement to USA TODAY Tuesday, Bowles said the movie armorer’s legal team will appeal her prison sentence “on multiple grounds.”

Attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing Hutchins’ parents and sister, said in a statement that Gutierrez-Reed’s sentence is “appropriate” given the armorer’s “failure to express any remorse herself at the hearing” and “her attitude in many jailhouse calls.”

“The family just wanted justice for Halyna, and today the court handed down the maximum sentence possible under New Mexico law,” Allred said. “We now look forward to the trial of Alec Baldwin where a different jury will decide if Alec Baldwin is or is not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. We look forward to a just result in the next criminal case.”

Halyna Hutchins’ family, friends share statements amid ‘Rust’ armorer sentencing: ‘Time does not heal’

Gutierrez-Reed got emotional during personal statements from Hutchins’ friends and co-workers, including Joel Souza, the “Rust” director who was also injured during the shooting.

The Hutchins family’s attorney Gloria Allred shared statements and videos from the family, from Kyiv, Ukraine.

“Time does not heal. … It gets worse and worse,” Olga Solovey, Hutchins’ mother, said in Ukrainian, adding that none of the people involved in Hutchins’ death have expressed their sympathy to her.

“Halyna was the best daughter on this earth,” said Solovey in a separate statement. “After this tragedy, my life has been split into two — before and after. … I have hope that the guilty, those that are responsible for the death of my daughter, will be punished fairly and sentenced justly.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the former armorer on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie “Rust,” arrives for her sentencing hearing at the First Judicial District Courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 15, 2024.

Hutchins’ father, Anatolii Androsovych, and sister, Svetlana Zemko, shared similar sentiments of grief in their own statements, with Androsovych calling Hutchins’ death the “biggest bitter loss of my life.”

“I do not wish for revenge but believe that each person responsible for the death of my Halyna needs to carry the punishment that is equal to their guilt,” Androsovych said. “Maybe, just maybe, this might prevent the same types of tragedies in the future to others and spare other parents from such a heart-wrenching catastrophe.”

Conviction: ‘Rust’ armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed found guilty of involuntary manslaughter

‘Rust’ armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed requested new trial for role in death of Halyna Hutchins

Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing comes nearly a month after a judge denied her legal team’s request for a new trial as well as her release before sentencing in order to visit her father, who is battling leukemia.

In response to her request for a new trial, state prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked that she be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 18 months due to a lack of remorse, citing phone calls Gutierrez-Reed made from jail in which she said the jury were “idiots” and the judge was “paid off.”

Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed was the scapegoat for a chaotic production where she was not given time to check weapons. He blamed Hutchins’ death on Baldwin’s reckless use of firearms and his efforts to rush and control filming as lead actor, writer and producer on “Rust.”

Alec Baldwin involuntary manslaughter trial to begin in July

Baldwin’s trial for his role in the shooting death of Hutchins begins July 10, after he was indicted in January of involuntary manslaughter.

Hutchins was fatally shot when Baldwin pointed his gun at the cinematographer and a live round went off as she set up a camera shot. The “30 Rock” actor has denied pulling the trigger. The FBI and an independent firearms expert have found the gun would not have fired without the trigger being pulled.

Alec Baldwin exhibited ‘bullyish behavior’ on ‘Rust’ set, New Mexico prosecutors say

Baldwin’s lawyers urged a judge in March to dismiss the grand jury’s indictment against him, accusing prosecutors of “unfairly stacking the deck” against the actor and distracting from evidence and witnesses that would present his innocence.

State prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis filed the state’s response to the defense’s motion weeks after, slamming Baldwin’s team for allegedly sharing “predictably false (and) misleading” facts and engaging in “countless lies and manipulation.”

In their 316-page filing, prosecutors painted Baldwin as a demanding actor and producer of the project who flaunted safety precautions, did not heed directions from his director and changed his story about what happened during the shooting.

Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Marco della Cava and Edward Segarra, USA TODAY; Andrew Hay, Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Rust’ armorer sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter conviction