Gunsmith from 'Rust' sentenced to 18 months in prison for murder of director of photography

Film armory Rust, Hannah Gutierrez Reed was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter for the 2021 death of photography director Halina Hutchins.

Gutierrez Reed, the first person to be tried in the case, was responsible for carrying the gun used by Alec Baldwin on set, from which a real bullet – not a prop – was fired, leading to Hutchins' death on October 21, 2021. .

During the trial held in a New Mexico court, prosecutors accused Hannah Gutierrez Reed of repeated neglect.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed was acquitted of another charge of tampering with evidence.

In October 2021, while filming a movie Rust In New Mexico, in the southwestern United States, actor Alec Baldwin aimed a gun that, contrary to what was assumed, was still a real projectile, which led to the death of cinematographer Halina Hutchins and the wounding of director Joel Souza.

For two weeks, the trial tried to explain how this real bullet, one of many live ammunition collected by investigators, could have ended up on the set, defying safety rules common to the entire movie industry.

During the hearings, jurors saw photographs showing Alec Baldwin handling the weapons in a dangerous manner, pointing them at other members of the team, without the gunsmith's intervention.

“This case is about ongoing, endless security failures that killed one person and nearly killed another,” U.S. Attorney Carrie Morrissey explained during closing arguments on March 6.

According to the prosecutor, the gunsmith was again negligent on the morning of the tragedy, as he was not present when Alec Baldwin was preparing the scene, and left the 20 weapons used by the production unattended.

Morrissey accused the gun maker of taking live ammunition to the set and failing to conduct necessary checks to ensure the ammunition placed in the gun was safe.

Alec Baldwin, the film's famous actor and producer, is also charged with manslaughter, and is scheduled to stand trial in July.

In early February, Baldwin, who always maintained that he never pulled the trigger of the gun he was carrying but that it went off due to mechanical failure, pleaded not guilty.

Filming for “Rust” resumed several months later and concluded in Montana, where Halina Hutchins' widower Matthew served as executive producer.

At the end of 2022, he abandoned the civil lawsuit he filed against Alec Baldwin at the end of an agreement whose value was not disclosed.

Hutchins' death led to new safety precautions in the film industry.