The chief weapons officer for The Last was sentenced to 18 months in prison for shooting and killing Halina Hutchins, the movie’s director of photography, on set in 2021, when actor Alec Baldwin shot and killed the film’s director of photography, Halina Hutchins.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of manslaughter in March, making her punishment the most serious legal fallout yet in Hutchins’ death. But the case that captivated Hollywood and America is far from over.
A trial for Baldwin, an actor and co-producer of the film, is scheduled for July 10 after a grand jury indicted him on charges of manslaughter.
A Santa Fe jury took less than two hours on March 6 to convict Gutierrez-Reed of manslaughter, with one juror later saying the defendant had to secure the weapon at the scene of the shooting. He said that he had not fulfilled his “duty”.
During the trial, prosecutors accused Gutierrez-Reed of failing to follow basic safety procedures and that weapons inspectors loaded a fully functioning revolver used by Baldwin with dummy bullets and at least one live round. He said that he had done so. The shooting killed Hutchins, 42, and injured director Joel Souza.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said: “She was negligent, careless and thoughtless.”
The shooting sparked protests against dangerous working conditions in Hollywood. Crew members testifying at Mr. Gutierrez-Reed’s trial described a chaotic set where safety was “secondary” and one said production was occurring at “freaking speed.”
Following Hutchins’ death, U.S. film and television production companies initially stopped using real firearms and blank ammunition. According to armorers, it will be reintroduced two and a half years later, as production sites love its realistic effects.
Baldwin shot and killed Ms. Hutchins as she pointed the gun at the cinematographer, and the moment she raised the camera, the gun fired live ammunition. The actor denies pulling the trigger. The FBI and independent firearms experts found that the gun would not fire unless the trigger was pulled.
Baldwin is accused of causing Hutchins’ death through negligence or “total disregard or indifference” to safety. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers had argued that she was being used as a scapegoat and that Baldwin was responsible for what happened.
“It was not in the script for Mr. Baldwin to point the weapon,” defense attorney Jason Bowles said during the trial. She said, “She didn’t know that Mr. Baldwin was trying to do the same thing that she was.”
Previous shootings that killed actor Brandon Lee in 1993 and John-Eric Hexum on set in 1984 included blank shots.
