Alec Baldwin may be sweating profusely following Rust gun handler Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s maximum sentence Monday ahead of the star and producer’s criminal trial in July.
Gutierrez-Reed, the main arms dealer on the set of the ill-fated indie film Rust, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a jury in March, making her the first crew member convicted in the accidental death of Hutchins at the hands of 66-year-old actor Alec Baldwin.
Baldwin’s criminal trial is set to begin July 10, after a grand jury indicted him on involuntary manslaughter charges in January.
Legal analyst and personal injury lawyer Miguel Custodio says this could be “bad news” for the 30-something rock star, who faces the same punishment if found guilty.
Rust gun maker Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of cameraman Halyna Hutchins
‘[It] shows that the court is taking this fatal shooting seriously and that it is not just for show, as his defenders claim, Custodio said.
“A plea deal would be the best strategy for him at this time, given today’s sentencing and the information the prosecutor has about the chaos on set and Baldwin’s inability to do anything about it. But I don’t see that happening,” he added.
Baldwin has consistently maintained his innocence, but Guttierez-Reed’s attorneys claim the environment he created on set led to Hutchins’ death.
‘[He] may think he will have an easier time if he believes his team can convince a jury that the only guilty party has already been convicted,” Custodio added.
“That’s a risky proposition, since Baldwin’s role as producer actually involves him in all aspects of the production. Potential jurors will clearly know what happened to Gutierrez-Reed and will scrutinize Baldwin’s lack of responsibility for the chaos on set.”
Baldwin has denied pulling the trigger and said he was instructed to point the gun at the camera. The FBI and private firearms experts determined that the gun would not have fired if the trigger had not been pulled.
He has repeatedly tried to have the charges against him dropped, most recently in the immediate aftermath of Guttierez-Reed’s guilty verdict. Last year, it was reported that Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, will testify against Baldwin at his criminal trial.
In July, prosecutors will argue that Baldwin, who produced the doomed film, is partly responsible for Hutchins’ tragic end.
Legal analyst and personal injury lawyer Miguel Custodio says this could be ‘bad news’ for the 30-something rock star, who faces the same punishment if found guilty
Baldwin has consistently maintained his innocence, but Guttierez-Reed’s attorneys claim the environment he created on set led to Hutchins’ death
The judge said the Rust gun guard received the length of her sentence because she showed no remorse
“We know that prosecutors will build their case around Baldwin overseeing the chaos and doing nothing about it, but knowing that Gutierrez-Reed was relatively inexperienced and overwhelmed,” the co-founder of Custodio & Dubey LLP said.
“And yet he decided not to bring in anyone else or make any other personnel changes. This morning she said herself that she didn’t have the right resources or staff, and she tried to do the job anyway.”
His lawyers have said that in the weeks leading up to the shooting, he was unable to regulate his emotions and pressured crews to work quickly and “routinely compromised safety.”
The legal analyst also notes that it will be the same judge and the same community that will prosecute him on the same facts.
Hutchins was killed when Baldwin pointed his gun at the cameraman and cocked the weapon as she set up a scene.
Gutierrez-Reed cried as her fate was read to her in court today by a judge who chastised her for her apparent lack of remorse.
“Your attorney had to tell the court that you were remorseful,” Judge Mary Marlow Sommer said.
The aspiring gun professional, the stepdaughter of Thell Reed – an esteemed Hollywood firearms trainer – was sentenced by New Mexico District Court Judge Sommer.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was a mother of one and rising cinematographer when she was fatally shot on the set of the Alec Baldwin-produced indie western ‘Rust’
Alec Baldwin, Halyna Hutchins and gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed appear in this photo of the cast and crew of Rust
The infamous weapon was fired on set, ultimately killing cameraman Hutchins
Attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed requested that she be placed on probation, but prosecutors argued for the 18 months due to the suspect’s apparent lack of remorse.
Judge Sommer sided with prosecutors and imposed the full recommended sentence on Gutierrez-Reed after it was pointed out that she had called jurors “idiots” and said the judge had been “paid off” during phone calls she made from jail .
She also continued to blame Baldwin and others on set and the production team for the shooting.