A New Mexico state judge cited Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's apparent lack of remorse in his decision to impose the sentence.
The weapons supervisor for the film Rust has been sentenced in the United States to 18 months in prison for her role in the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's gunsmith, received the maximum possible sentence at Monday's hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on March 6.
The sentencing state judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, said Gutierrez-Reed had a responsibility to keep the device safe and failed to do so.
“You were the gunsmith, the one who stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone,” Marlowe Sommer said.
“You just turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. If it were not for you, Mrs. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have her partner, and a child would have her mother.”
Hutchins' murder in October 2021 shocked the Hollywood film industry.
Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin had been practicing for a gunfight scene with a revolver when the gun went off.
The revolver carried live ammunition (something prohibited on film sets in the United States) and the bullet hit Hutchins in the chest. He died on the way to the hospital.
The bullet also hit director Joel Souza, although he has since recovered from his injuries.
Baldwin has repeatedly denied pulling the trigger, although a prosecutor's forensic analysis concluded that the revolver was unlikely to fire unless he did so.
He also faces a manslaughter trial in July, with a sentence of up to 18 months in prison.
Before Monday's sentencing, defense attorneys asked the judge to consider the “devastating effect a felony will have” on Gutierrez-Reed, 26.
But prosecutors highlighted Gutierrez-Reed's apparent lack of remorse.
“Ms. Gutierrez continues to refuse to accept responsibility for her role in the death of Halyna Hutchins,” said special prosecutor Kari Morrissey.
In a court filing earlier this month, prosecutors requested that Gutierrez-Reed receive the maximum sentence “due to his recklessness in the knowledge that his actions were reasonably likely to result in serious harm.”
They cited cases in which Gutierrez-Reed was allegedly in possession of cocaine and smuggled a firearm into a bar, something for which he faces charges in a separate case.
The filing also describes phone calls from jail in which Gutierrez-Reed allegedly said she “can't believe the judge jailed her” and that she was “unjustly jailed.”
Those calls appeared to have influenced the outcome of his sentencing hearing.
“The word 'remorse' (a deep regret arising from a feeling of guilt for past mistakes) is not yours,” Judge Marlowe Summer said after referring to a portion of the phone call transcripts.
At the sentencing hearing, family and friends of the late Hutchins gathered to share statements and memories.
“I have a hard time dealing with being repeatedly called an accident, because it wasn't an accident, it was negligence,” said Jen White, a colleague.
Hutchins' mother, Olga Solovey, also appeared at the hearing via video conference from kyiv, her native Ukraine.
Speaking in Ukrainian, she testified about the impact of her daughter's death: “It's the hardest thing to lose a child. There are no words to describe”.
