Gunsmith “Rust” Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Fatal Shooting By Alec Baldwin

By Andrew Hay

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – Hannah Gutierrez, the lead gun handler in the western film “Rust,” was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in prison for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot while Actor Alec Baldwin handled a gun during production of the film in 2021.

In March, Gutierrez, 27, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for mistakenly loading a live bullet into a revolver that Baldwin was using on a film set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“You turned a safe weapon into a deadly weapon,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer told Gutierrez as she handed down the sentence.

On video calls and in the courtroom during the hearing, Hutchins' friends from the film industry paid tribute to his creativity and kindness. They also blasted Gutierrez's violations of gun safety protocol.

“I have a hard time with people repeatedly calling this an accident, because it wasn't an accident, it was negligence,” said Jen White, a film industry colleague. .

The shooting, which stunned Hollywood, is believed to be the first time in modern times that a member of a film crew or cast has been killed by a live bullet accidentally loaded into a firearm.

Baldwin's trial is set for July 10 after a grand jury indicted him on involuntary manslaughter charges in January.

Gutierrez's attorney, Jason Bowles, had asked that she be given probation, but prosecutors argued for the full 18 months due to a lack of contrition.

“I’m begging you, don’t give me more time,” Gutierrez told the court, adding that his “heart aches” for Hutchins’ family. “The jury found me responsible for this tragedy, but that doesn't make me a monster. It makes me human.”

In a video call from kyiv, the mother of the Ukrainian-born filmmaker mourned the death of her daughter and the fact that her young grandson Andros was left without a mother.

“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child,” said Olga Solovey, whose comments were translated into English with subtitles.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey pointed to Gutierrez's phone calls from prison in which she said jurors were “idiots,” that the judge had been “paid off” and continued to blame Baldwin and others for shooting.

Gutierrez had already spent a month in Santa Fe County Jail following his conviction.

THREE WEEK TRIAL

On March 6, a Santa Fe jury took less than two hours to find her guilty. A juror later said Gutierrez failed to do his job to keep weapons safe on set.

Hutchins' death initially prompted American film and television productions to stop using real firearms and blank ammunition. Two and a half years later, many are using them again because of the realistic effects they produce, according to gunsmiths.

Hutchins was fatally shot when Baldwin pointed his gun at the filmmaker and cocked the gun as she prepared a scene.

During Gutierrez's three-week trial, prosecutors accused her of unknowingly bringing Colt .45 cartridges live onto the set of the low-budget film, which has been strictly prohibited for nearly a century according to the Screen Actors Guild safety guidelines.

Bowles said Gutierrez was the scapegoat for a chaotic production where she didn't have time to check weapons. He blamed Hutchins' death on Baldwin's reckless use of firearms and his efforts to rush and control the shooting. Baldwin was also the film's producer and screenwriter.

The “30 Rock” actor denies pulling the trigger and said he was ordered to point it at the camera. But the FBI and an independent firearms expert found that the gun would not fire without the trigger being pulled.

Film historians such as Alan Rode have looked to the turn of the last century for examples of Hollywood actors or crew being killed by live ammunition accidentally loaded into firearms.

Previous fatal on-set shootings of actors Brandon Lee in 1993 and Jon-Erik Hexum in 1984 involved blank bullets.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay; editing by Aurora Ellis)