In October 2021, Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for his new western movie “Rust”. When the gun he was holding discharged, and fired live ammo. It wasn’t supposed to be loaded with live ammo. The bullets hit and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and director Joel Souza was injured.
Photographer: Joella Marano
Caption: Alec Baldwin at the Tony Bennet Birthday Gala 2011.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing hearing began at 10:30 a.m. in Santa Fe. The “Rust” armorer was last month found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Hannah Gutierrez received the maximum penalty. For her part in the New Mexico set tragedy. Several experts have since characterized it as a preventable incident.
Judge Mary Marlowe Somner gave the sentence to conclude an emotionally charged hearing on Monday.
Somner told Gutierrez Reed,” I find what you did constitutes a serious violent offense,”.
Gutierrez Reed and her defense team had asked the judge to consider probation as an alternative. In the Statement, she called Hannah Hutchins an “Inspiration”. She said she felt saddened by the media of her case and the negative light that was painted over her name in public. The defendant Hannah is now 27.
Photographer: Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
Caption: A picture of a court hearing form with probation written at the top together with a gavel, block, pen, and glasses.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed stated to the court.
“Your honor, when I took on ‘Rust,’ I was young and naive. But I took my job as seriously as I knew how to,” said Gutierrez-Reed. “I beg you, please, don’t give me more time. The jury has found me in part at fault for this horrible tragedy, but that doesn’t make me a monster. That makes me human.”
Hannah sat in the courtroom and at times it did seem like she had tears as the “Rust” writer and director who was injured during the shooting. Several of her friends also gave statements on the impact of her death.
The prosecution noticed the fact that during the trial Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had a lack of contrition. That was one of the reasons they imposed the maximum sentence. Jason Bowles, her attorney said in his final remarks during Hannah’s sentencing.
“Mental breakdowns” and “said ‘if only’ many, many, many times,” with that side of her remaining largely unfamiliar to people following the case.
Souza spoke about what she thought about the loss suffered by Hutchins and her family.
“What I want is simply not possible. What I want is, for everyone to be OK and lives aren’t destroyed, ” Souza went on to say,” One moment the world made sense, and the next moment, it didn’t. It still doesn’t, and I don’t know if it ever will again,” he told the courtroom through a virtual call. “Those of us who were lucky enough to have shared in her [Hutchins’] fleeting time on this planet are better for it.”
Huchins’ close friend and former classmate Mizrahi and Emilia Nedieta shared personal anecdotes about the cinematographer who had been described frequently since her death as a very talented “rising star” who was approaching a major interruption in her career when she died.
Mizrahi said, “The circumstances surrounding the disaster force us to ask so many questions, with one in particular above all: How could this have happened?” He suggested broad failures by Gutierrez-Reed as well as “Rust” leadership caused the shooting.
“When the producers hired someone with virtually no experience to not only be the armorer but also the assistant prop master, two very challenging positions, they made a crucial decision to put the safety of the cast and crew on the back burner,” he said. “As for Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, it’s my opinion that she should not have held either position, much less both, but that once accepted, the responsibility should have been taken more seriously. Sadly it wasn’t, and we all know the result.”
Photographer: Jay Mantri
Caption: A black-and-white view of the interior of a jail cell shows the stark and confined space with a small bed, toilet, and barred windows.
