“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.
Judge Sommer told Gutierrez-Reed: “A conditional discharge is not appropriate. The second option — leaving you in the detention center — is giving you a pass you do not deserve … you alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, a husband would have his wife and a little boy would have his mother.”
Before the sentencing victim impact statements were given, including a video recording of Hutchins’ Mother, Olga Solovey, who spoke in Ukrainian which was translated as subtitles.
She cried through the recording saying: “The day of her death ruined my entire life. It’s heart-wrenching to see her child grow without his mother.
“On the night [husband] Matt [called to say she died] I was screaming and kept pleading with him. Time does not heal. It is two and a half years past and it gets worse and worse.”
Emilia Mendieta, one of Hutchins’ best friends, told the court: “The last four words she ever said to me [were] ‘I believe in you.’ Those four words will forever echo in my soul.”
“Halyna’s death is the result of a massive system failure…it all boils down to a very simple question. Why was there a live bullet on set? … That is where Hannah Gutierrez-Reed failed Halyna. it was her job to check the gun, check the bullets, to ensure that Halyna was safe.”
Close family friend Steven Metz said the incident has also completely destroyed Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins.
He said: “Matt has been affected horribly by this and he moved away. Basically Matt died when Halyna died… The loss of Halyna has had the ripple effect on our community… her death is a reminder of the fragility of life and left us shaken and sad. There is really no excuse.”
At trial jurors heard evidence about how Gutierrez-Reed — who was in charge of the weapons on the set of the Western — flouted gun safety protocols which allowed a live round to end up in the gun Baldwin was using for the film.
Baldwin, 66, — who is awaiting trial on manslaughter charges — mistakenly fired off a bullet while rehearsing, killing cinematographer Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Gutierrez-Reed — who’s been behind bars since her March 6 conviction — faced up to 18 months imprisonment.
Her lawyer Jason Bowles asked Marlowe Sommer last week for leniency, requesting a sentence of conditional release with counseling and rehab.
However, prosecutors are asking the judge to throw the book at Gutierrez-Reed, whom they claim still refuses to take responsibility, evidenced in jail calls in which she, among other things, insulted jurors as “idiots” and “a–holes.”
At Monday’s hearing prosecutor Kari Morrissey said: “I wasn’t sure exactly what recommendation would be appropriate in this unprecedented case until last week when I completed the review of ms. Gutierrez’s jail calls.
“It was my sincere hope during this process that there would be some moment when Ms. Gutierrez took responsibility and expressed some level of remorse that was genuine. That moment has never come. Ms. Gutierrez continues to refuse to take responsibility for her role in the death of Halyna Hutchins.”
Bowles said his no prison request is warranted because Gutierrez-Reed has never committed a crime before; many people vouched for her good character in letters to the judge and her life has been permanently altered after being catapulted into the eye of the media for over two years.
“Ms. Gutierrez Reed has endured and will continue to endure collateral consequences far harsher than most defendants ever must face,” Bowles wrote.
The lawyer detailed how his client had received death threats which caused her fear and anxiety and pushed her into therapy. And he said even though she opted for trial, “it did not mean that she didn’t and doesn’t still feel incredibly saddened and heartbroken by what happened on that tragic day.”
Prosecutors in a letter Friday said Gutierrez-Reed “continues to deny responsibility and blame others” — including calling for Baldwin to be thrown in jail and saying she wouldn’t testify at his upcoming trial.
Special prosecutors listed a slew of alleged misconduct by Gutierrez-Reed from after her arrest claiming she drank alcohol while she was out pending trial “contrary to her conditions of release,” encouraged her mom to confront prosecutors while in the bathroom at court; and she attempted to lie to prosecutors about her work history to give the impression she was working full time prior to trial.
Bowles argued at trial Gutierrez-Reed was a “scapegoat” for the production company, which overworked her.
But prosecutors called Gutierrez-Reed — who was 24 at the time — “sloppy” and “unprofessional” and said she “treated the safety protocols as if they were optional.”
Bowles has previously said he plans to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Prosecutors also claim Baldwin — who is a producer on the completed but as-yet unreleased movie as well as its star — shares responsibility for Hutchins’ tragic death, arguing he had “no control” of his emotions in the weeks leading up to the tragedy and claiming he pressured crew to work faster and “routinely compromised safety.”
Baldwin — slated to go on trial on July 10 — is seeking to get the charges against him tossed and has maintained his innocence.
Last year, assistant director David Halls took a guilty plea for negligently handling of a gun and received a no-jail time sentence of probation.