‘Rust’ Armorer’s Jail Calls Show Lack of Remorse, State Argues
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In recorded jail calls, “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed complained about the judge, prosecutor and jurors who served on her case and said she was “railroaded,” according to a court filing on Friday.
Gutierrez Reed was convicted last month of involuntary manslaughter for loading a live bullet into Alec Baldwin’s gun, leading to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She is due to be sentenced on Monday in a Santa Fe, N.M. courtroom.
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In the filing, prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked that she be sentenced to the maximum — 18 months — and said that the recorded calls show her lack of contrition.
“Ms. Gutierrez continues to deny responsibility and blame others,” Morrissey wrote.
The prosecutor provided a summary of the calls, in which Gutierrez Reed spoke with her mother, her boyfriend and a defense paralegal.
According to the filing, Gutierrez Reed complained that the jurors were “idiots,” said that the judge was “paid off” and stated that she has “already been punished for this.”
“Hannah says that people have accidents and people die, it’s an unfortunate part of life but it doesn’t mean she should be in jail,” the summary states.
According to the summary, Gutierrez Reed also placed blame on others, including the set medic and the paramedics who tended to Hutchins, and said she wanted Baldwin and the producers to go to jail.
She was mad that the “whole thing got pinned on her,” the filing states, and that the “whole thing has been a character attack on her.”
Gutierrez Reed also told her confidants that she was doing well in jail. According to the prosecutor’s summary, Gutierrez Reed said that “some days she really likes it in there.”
Morrissey also asked the judge to designate Gutierrez Reed’s crime as a “serious violent offense,” which would limit the amount her sentence could be reduced for good behavior. Involuntary manslaughter is not automatically considered a “serious violent offense,” but the judge has discretion to treat it that way.
Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys have asked that she be sentenced to probation. The defense submitted several letters from her friends indicating that she does have remorse for her part in the tragedy.
Her father, Thell Reed, launched a GoFundMe last month to help defray the costs of her appeal.
“It’s quite transparent, the judicial scales in Hannah’s case are unfair and unbalanced,” he wrote. “Justice for Halyna does not mean injustice for Hannah.”
As the Hollywood Reporter was first to report, GoFundMe shut down the fundraiser this week, pursuant to a policy that bars fundraising for legal defense against charges related to violent crimes.
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