Yesterday, we learned which direction the courts seem to be leaning in handling the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie “Rust” in 2021. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was previously found guilty of involuntary manslaughter as a result of the shooting and on Monday, New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer gave Gutierrez-Reed the maximum sentence of 18 months behind bars. The day was reportedly filled with highly emotional testimony and the armorer openly wept throughout the proceedings before being led away to begin serving her sentence. Now the focus shifts to the upcoming trial of Alec Baldwin, the person who actually fired the fatal shot. (NY Post)
“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sobbed throughout her court hearing as she was sentenced to 18 months, the maximum possible sentence, on Monday for her involvement in the accidental shooting death of Halyna Hutchins by Alec Baldwin in 2021.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was led into court shackled at the wrist and wearing khaki jail scrubs with a white longsleeve T-shirt.
Her sentence was handed down by New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer after the rookie armorer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month.
You can’t blame all of the people involved for being highly emotional throughout these proceedings. Hutchins died a pointless death that never should have happened. Since the original event took place, I’ve gone back and forth on the question of culpability in what was clearly an accidental killing. But in the end, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the armorer on the set and it was ultimately her responsibility to ensure that a tragedy like that could not happen. Many errors were clearly made on that movie set over the course of the project, but someone has to be held accountable and that was the job that she signed on for.
There’s no indication yet as to whether Gutierrez-Reed plans to appeal, but there is still plenty of legal work to be done. What of Alec Baldwin? He has yet to spend a single full day in jail and he is the one who fired the shot. He has consistently maintained that he bears no responsibility and even tried to claim that he never even pulled the trigger. Yet both of those claims seem to fly in the face of reality.
Baldwin may not have committed murder, but he violated nearly every established rule of firearms handling on that set. Taking someone else’s word at face value that a firearm is “cold” simply isn’t good enough. When handed a firearm that was in someone else’s possession, you are supposed to inspect it yourself. Baldwin has been in that business for a long time and has had to handle many guns. He should have been able to recognize the difference between a live round and a dummy load, but it sounds like he never even looked.
Further, the standard rules inform us that you never point a firearm at anything you don’t intend to shoot. Perhaps that’s unavoidable on a movie set, but even if you are forced to do so you certainly don’t pull the trigger. Baldwin continues to insist he didn’t do that, but experts have examined that revolver from top to bottom and concluded that it would have been incapable of firing the lethal round without the trigger being pulled. That, in itself, is not a violation of the law, but it resulted in the death of another human being. The courts have clearly concluded that the event constituted manslaughter, whether any of us agree with that conclusion or not. In that context, how could Gutierrez-Reed be guilty of manslaughter and not Alec Baldwin?
In the ultimate act of gall, Baldwin actually went back to the set last year and finished filming the movie. If there is any justice left in this world, people should refuse to go see the film. It’s an insult to the memory of Halyna Hutchins and the crew of Baldwin’s film studio should be held up as a negative role model when it comes to firearms safety in Hollywood. In 2024 there is really no reason for anyone to need a functional firearm or any live ammunition on a movie set. Everything can be reproduced using highly realistic props and Artificial Intelligence. There is simply no excuse for any more accidental shootings on film sets.