'Rust' Armorer's Prison Sentence Raises Alec Baldwin Questions

Alec Baldwin's near-future legal status has become a talking point on social media, after Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed received an 18-month prison sentence over an on-set shooting.

On Monday, Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to the maximum time behind bars after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for overseeing the firearms on the set of the movie, Rust.

It was during this time that Baldwin, the film's star and producer, claims he unknowingly held a loaded gun. The gun discharged on the Western's set near Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 21, 2021. Hutchins, 42, was killed, and writer-director Joel Souza was injured.

"My heart aches for the Hutchins family and friends... Halyna has been and always will be an inspiration to me. I understand she was taken too soon and I pray that you all find peace," she told the judge, as she asked for probation before her sentence was handed down.

She continued: "My heart goes out to the film industry for the devastating pain that this tragedy caused... When I took on Rust, I was young and I was naive, but I took my job as seriously as I knew how to do. Despite not having proper time, resources, and staffing, when things got tough, I just did my best to handle it."

Baldwin has maintained that he was unaware the gun contained live rounds, and he has denied pulling the trigger. However, the star has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and is awaiting trial, currently scheduled for July.

Involuntary manslaughter is a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico. If convicted, each count carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail and up to $5,000 in fines.

With Gutierrez-Reed getting the maximum custodial sentence over the shooting, questions have now been asked about how Baldwin will fare in court.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, political communications strategist and journalist Emily Miller wrote in reaction to the news: "Wow. Alec Baldwin's movie armorer just sentenced to the maximum 18 months in prison. His trial is in July. If he's found guilty, will he get the same sentence?"

"I don't think Alec Baldwin's culpability is equal to hers. It's much less," one X user commented in response to the post. "So, if convicted, he definitely won't get 18 months, or he certainly won't serve that much if he is."

The X user explained that Gutierrez-Reed "brought live ammo on the set. She had one job," adding: "She is the expert to differentiate between live rounds and dummy rounds. If actors are equally culpable and equally responsible for gun props and ammo used in productions, then why have an 'armorer'/gun safety expert on any film set at all? Eliminate the position altogether."

"I think if he's convicted he could very well see the same sentence," another person said. "However, her responsibility and his are not the same."

Criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter also sought to spark conversation on Gutierrez-Reed's sentencing, writing that she "received the maximum penalty of 18 months in prison for the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. What do you think this might mean for #AlecBaldwin?"

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Baldwin via email for comment.

Baldwin, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge leveled against him, has maintained his innocence since the day of the accident.

"The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never," Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos in December 2021. "I have no idea [how a bullet got in there]. Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property."

According to a forensic report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), however, the firearm could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. Special Agent Jose Cortez said the agency conducted accidental discharge tests with the hammer at rest, in the quarter and half-cock positions and at full cock position.

Luke Nikas, an attorney for Baldwin, said the FBI report was "being misconstrued."

"The gun fired in testing only one time—without having to pull the trigger—when the hammer was pulled back and the gun broke in two different places. The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior test, even when pulling the trigger, because it was in such poor condition," he said in a statement previously shared with Newsweek.

"The critical report is the one from the medical examiner, who concluded that this was a tragic accident," Nikas added.