Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, served as the movie set weapons handler responsible for loading a gun used by actor Alec Baldwin before it discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The tragic incident took place in October 2021 on the New Mexico set of the upcoming movie, Rust. During the filming of a scene, a live round was mistakenly fired from the gun Baldwin was handling, striking and fatally wounding Hutchins.
The incident also injured director Joel Souza, who fortunately survived.
Halyna Hutchins was killed while working on the Rust movie. Credit: Fred Hayes / Stringer / Getty
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March, and received the maximum possible sentence. However, she was found not guilty of tampering with evidence related to the shooting.
At the sentencing on April 15, it took the jury three hours of deliberation to reach the verdict.
As officers escorted her away, she offered words of reassurance to her tearful mother, saying, “It’ll be OK,” per Reuters.
The parents and sister of Halyna Hutchins have stated that they are “satisfied” with the sentence.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed and paralegal Carmella Sisneros appear during her sentencing on April 15, 2024. Credit: Pool / Getty
In July, Alec Baldwin, 65, will face a manslaughter trial. He maintains his innocence against the charges brought against him.
David Halls, the movie’s assistant director, was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence with unsupervised probation, a $500 fine, 24 hours of community service and a firearms safety class on a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Halls testified on behalf of Gutierrez-Reed, describing her competence as an armorer and stating that he took responsibility for the fatal incident.
“I let a safety check pass,” an emotional Halls stated at Gutierrez-Reed’s trial last month.
The case has raised questions about safety protocols on film sets and the responsibilities of those handling weapons.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed displayed negligence and carelessness in her handling of the firearm. They contended that she failed to ensure the weapon was only loaded with dummy rounds, which are fake bullets intended to mimic the appearance and sound of real ammunition.
Prosecutor Kari T Morrissey emphasized the gravity of the safety lapses, stating: “This case is about constant, never-ending safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being.” Gutierrez-Reed’s oversight, prosecutors argued, led to the tragic mixing of live bullets with dummy rounds in a box of ammunition on set, ultimately resulting in the fatal shooting.