"Rust" armorer sentenced to 18 months in prison following accidental fatal shooting on movie set

Tuesday, April 16, 2024 – The "Rust" armorer, who last month was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the deadly shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the film's cinematographer, was sentenced in a New Mexico state court today, April 15, to 18 months imprisonment.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is the daughter of an established Hollywood armorer, received the maximum penalty for her part in the 2021 tragedy where actor Alec Baldwin discharged live rounds from a prop gun on the movie set during a rehearsal.

Several experts have since characterized the accident as a preventable incident.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer handed down the sentence to conclude an emotionally charged hearing Monday, April 15.

"I find what you did constitutes a serious violent offense," Sommer told Gutierrez-Reed.

Although the prosecution pushed for this outcome — the maximum sentence — Gutierrez-Reed and her defense team had asked the judge to consider probation as an alternative.

The defendant, who is now 27, raised that request herself in a statement read in court before the sentence came down.

In the statement, she called Hutchins an inspiration and said she was saddened by the media coverage of her case and the negative light in which it painted her to the public.

"Your honor, when I took on 'Rust,' I was young and naive. But I took my job as seriously as I knew how to," said Gutierrez-Reed.

"I beg you, please, don't give me more time. The jury has found me in part at fault for this horrible tragedy, but that doesn't make me a monster. That makes me human."

The prosecution had cited Gutierrez-Reed's lack of contrition during the trial as one reason to impose the maximum sentence.

But her attorney, Jason Bowles, said in his final remarks at the sentencing that his client had in fact cried, broken down, experienced "mental breakdowns" and "said 'if only' many, many, many times," with that side of her remaining largely unfamiliar to people following the case.

Authorities took Gutierrez-Reed into custody once the verdicts were read. Her defense blamed the film's management for the shooting, arguing that serious safety issues existed on the "Rust" set that were outside of her purview.