By Morgan Lee
Adapted for radio by S. Baxter Clinton
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie weapons armorer received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on a Western movie set, as authorities now turn their focus on prosecution of Baldwin himself.
A New Mexico judge on Monday, April 15th, found that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's recklessness amounted to a serious violent offense, while noting few indications of genuine remorse from the defendant since her conviction in March. Prosecutors blame Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun-safety protocols .
Attention now turns to Baldwin's upcoming trial on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 death of Halyna Hutchins at a movie ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer of the film, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and says he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.
Prosecutors on Monday described a “cascade of safety violations” on the movie set that only start with Gutierrez-Reed.
At sentencing, Gutierrez-Reed said she had tried to do her best on the set despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing," and that she was not the monster that people have made her out to be.
But Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said the maximum sentence was appropriate given Gutierrez-Reed’s recklessness. She said remorse was lacking and rejected a request by defense attorneys for leniency and a conditional discharge that would have avoided further jail time.
The judge ticked through a checklist of safety failures by Gutierrez-Reed, pointedly answering her own questions.
The judge said, “Did she have enough time to load the weapon safely? Plenty. Did you load the weapon? Yes — with dummies and a live round. Did she check what she was loading? No.”
