The gunsmith on the set of the film "Rđa" was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the death of the cameraman

Actor Alec Baldwin (65) will also be tried in July for manslaughter

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Hana Gutierrez-Reed, Photo: Getty Images
Hana Gutierrez-Reed, Photo: Getty Images
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reid, the gunman on the film set who loaded the gun on actor Alec Baldwin before he shot and killed the cameraman, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

This 26-year-old was announced guilty of manslaughter in March.

The court found her not guilty on the second charge - concealing evidence of the shooting of Halina Hutchins in 2021 on the set of the film 'Rđa'.

Gutierrez-Reid received the maximum possible sentence.

Actor Alec Baldwin (65) will also be tried in July for manslaughter.

He pleaded not guilty to this charge.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who handed down the sentence Monday in a New Mexico court, said Gutierrez-Reed's actions constituted a serious, aggravated offense committed in a physically violent manner.

"You have turned a safe into a deadly weapon," Judge Sommer said to the gunsmith.

“But for you, Hutchins would be alive. The husband would have his partner, and the little boy would have his mother."

Forty-two-year-old cinematographer Hutchins died after a live bullet was fired from the gun Baldwin was using while filming the western in New Mexico.

The prosecution pointed out that Gutierrez-Reid did not ensure that the weapon was loaded only with blanks, fake bullets that look and sound like real ones.

"This is about continuous security failures that led to the death of a human being," prosecutor Kari Morrissey said during her closing arguments at the trial.

Gutierrez-Reid was "negligent," "careless" and "reckless" when she failed to notice that real bullets were mixed with blanks in an ammunition box on the film set, she added in her address to the jury.

One of those bullets ended up in the barrel of the gun used by Baldwin, according to the prosecution.

The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict, and Gutierrez-Reid was left speechless when she heard the verdict.

The parents and sister of Haline Hutchins said they were "satisfied" with the verdict.

"We are pleased that the judiciary continues to ensure that all those responsible for Halina's death face the consequences," they said in a statement.

Getty Images

Before she was sentenced, Gutierrez Reed addressed the court, saying her heart ached for the family and friends of cameraman Hutchins.

“The jury found me guilty; that doesn't make me a monster. It makes me human," she said through tears.

But Judge Somer said she felt the gunsmith had not taken responsibility for her actions.

"I didn't hear that you took responsibility," added the judge.

The deceased Hutchins' mother and sister also spoke via video from their native Kiev, Ukraine.

Olga Solovey's mother said in a translated video that no one involved in her daughter's death ever expressed sympathy.

"It is very important to me that there is justice," she said.

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During the trial, prosecutors also presented evidence that Gutierrez-Reed brought a box of live ammunition to New Mexico from her home in California.

They added that these bullets were slowly scattered around the set during the 12 days of filming.

Prosecutor Morrissey stated that she believes that the gunsmith did not intend to do this, but that the death of the cameraman was the result of tragic carelessness.

She added that after the death, Gutierrez-Reid was "more concerned about her career" than the victims, the prosecutor added.

Gutierrez-Reid did not testify in the two-week trial, but her attorney said during closing arguments that the prosecution failed to prove that his client was solely responsible for the fatal incident.

"The (ammunition) boxes are not important because we don't know what was in them three or four days before the incident," defense attorney Jason Bowles told the jury, arguing the gunsmith didn't know there were real bullets in the footage.

The lawyer also accused Baldwin of "acting off script" when he pointed a gun at a member of the camera crew.

"It was not scripted for Baldwin to point a gun. She didn't know he was going to do what he did," Bowles added.

He promised to appeal the conviction.

Gutierrez-Reed was acquitted of concealing evidence charges stemming from claims she tried to get rid of a small bag of narcotics after the incident.

The film's crew wrapped up filming in Hutchins' honor last year, with her husband serving as an executive producer.


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