The gunsmith from the film Rust, Hannah Gutiérrez, was sentenced this Monday to 18 months in prison for the death of the film's director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot when the actor and producer Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a weapon, supposedly blank, during filming of the film in October 2021.
In March, Gutiérrez, 27, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for mistakenly loading a live bullet into a revolver Baldwin was using on a set at a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA), for the New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer. Gutierrez's attorney, Jason Bowles, had requested that she be given probation, but prosecutors argued for a full 18 months for lack of repentance. The gunsmith had already spent a month in Santa Fe County Jail following her conviction.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey pointed to Gutierrez's jailhouse phone calls in which he said the jurors were "idiots," that the judge had been "bought" and continued to blame Baldwin and others for the shooting.
On March 6, a Santa Fe jury took less than two hours to find her guilty after a juror said she "had not done her job to ensure gun safety on set."
Hutchins' death initially led American film and television productions to stop using real firearms and blank ammunition. Two and a half years later, many are using them again due to the realistic effects they produce, according to gunsmiths.
Alec Baldwin's trial is scheduled for July 10 after a grand jury indicted him on involuntary manslaughter in January.
