Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been sentenced to 18 months in prison over the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer announced the sentencing on Monday after a jury found the 27-year-old guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The late cinematographer was shot and killed on the set when Alec Baldwin fired a gun which was accidentally loaded with a live bullet on October 21, 2021. Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for handling the firearms at the time of film production.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sentenced to maximum time for involuntary manslaughter

Gutierrez-Reed was handed down the maximum time of 18 months behind bars for involuntary manslaughter. Before giving her ruling, Sommer said, “For all the fanfare and pundits and finger-pointing that has been going on for over two years, we were able to seat a jury of her peers who confirmed that they could listen to the evidence received in court and determine the facts and apply the law,” adding, “They found Ms. Gutierrez guilty of involuntary manslaughter.”

The judge also called her out for taking her offence lightly as she told someone during the jailhouse calls that “this is messing up her modelling career.” As the Rust armourer sobbed after her sentencing, Sommer continued, “I find that what you did constitutes a serious, violent offense. It was committed in a physically violent manner. A fatal gunshot done with your recklessness in the face of knowledge that your acts were reasonably likely to result in serious harm,” per Fox News.

The jury decision was reached following a two-week trial where jurors heard details from weapons experts, crew members, and detectives. “You were the armorer, the one that’s to be between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone. You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Mrs. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother. Please take her,” Sommer added.