The mother of late “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins said that her daughter’s untimely death “ruined my entire life” in court Monday.
The emotional statement was among many delivered by friends and family in New Mexico District Court before “Rust” set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in the Oct. 21, 2021 death of Hutchins — a married mother of one.
“I remember the day that she was no more,” mother Olga Solovey, said through tears, speaking Ukrainian translated in subtitles, on a video recording played for Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer. “It’s extremely difficult, extremely difficult for me without her.”
“The day of her death ruined my entire life. It’s heart-wrenching to see her child grow without his mother,” Solovey said of Hutchins’ young son Andros.
Solovey recounted the day that Hutchins’ husband of 16 years — Matthew Hutchins — called her in the middle of the night to break the horrible news, taking minutes to work up the courage to tell his mother-in-law that her daughter was dead.
“He said ‘Halyna is no more,’” Solovey recalled. “After that moment, I cannot remember anything. I was home alone. I was screaming and kept pleading with him.”
Solovey said she couldn’t believe it was true but Matthew said: ‘”She is gone.’”
“Time does not heal,” the broken-hearted mother said. “It is two and a half years past and it gets worse and worse.”
And Solovey said that no one from the set involved in the shooting, “has ever come to apologize. No one has ever expressed sympathy.”
Gutierrez-Reed — who cried intermittently throughout several victim impact statements — was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month.
Alec Baldwin, who fired the fatal shot not knowing a live round was in the gun he was rehearsing with, is slated for trial on July 10 for the same charge.
Assistant Director David Halls previously pleaded guilty to negligently handling the gun and he received probation.
The judge also heard a translated video statement from Svetlana Zemko — Hutchins’ sister — who described how close she was to her sibling, what a wonderful person Hutchins was and how she dreamed that their kids would one day play together.
“I understand now it will never happen,” said Zemko through tears of her children — whom Hutchins never met — knowing Andros.
“I really didn’t want to cry. It is one thing to talk about how great she was but another to understand she is gone forever,” the sister said.
Gloria Allred — a lawyer for Hutchins’ family — read a statement from her father, Anatoly Androsovych, who couldn’t record a video because of illness.
“The demise of my daughter Halyna … became the tragedy and biggest bitter loss of my life,” the father said in the statement. “There is no way I can put into words to express the soul-crushing pain and suffering that I live through every day.”
Hutchins’ death “caused an abrupt decline of my health,” Androsovych’s statement read. “Every day I remember Halyna, I remember the moments of our lives.”
He said as a former military man he knows that this could only have happened through “systematic and gross violations” of gun safety protocols.
“Rust” director Joel Souza — who was wounded in the shooting — spoke live through a video feed describing how his life changed for the worse the day of the incident.
“One moment, the world made sense,” Souza said. “The next moment and it didn’t and it still doesn’t. And I don’t know if it will ever be again.”
“I want the pain to go away,” Souza said. “And above all, I want Halyna to be back home with her husband and son.”
A close family friend Steven Metz described how his son and Hutchins’ son were very close and that drew Metz close to Matthew and Halyna.
“Matt has been affected horribly by this and he moved away,” Metz said, noting he and his son both lost their friendships.” Basically, Matt died when Halyna died.”
Emilia Mendieta, one of Hutchins’ best friends who went to film school with Hutchins, told the court: “The last four words she ever said to me [were] ‘I believe in you.’ Those four words will forever echo in my soul.”
The friend said the shooting was the result of a “massive system failure,” and said the armorer played a large role in that failure.
“It all boils down to a very simple question. Why was there a live bullet on set?” Mendieta asked. “That is where Hannah Gutierrez-Reed failed Halyna. It was her job to check the gun, check the bullets, to ensure that Halyna was safe.”
Another film friend, Anak Rabanál, sobbed throughout her statement delivered over a video streamed.
“I miss you, my friend,” Rabanál said. “I will do my best to live up to being the person you wanted me to be.”
Gutierrez-Reed, 26 — who has been behind bars since her conviction — begged for leniency and said her heart “aches” over Hutchins’ death.
“I understand she was taken too soon,” Gutierrez-Reed said, her voice breaking with emotion.
But she went on to say that the media had unfairly painted her like a “monster” and tried to pass off blame for the incident. She claimed she hadn’t been given the proper time and resources to effectively uphold gun safety standards on set.
Marlowe Sommer threw the book at the rookie armorer and criticized her for failing to take responsibility.
“You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” the judge said.
“The word remorse — a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs. That’s not you,” the judge added.
Hutchins’ mother, dad and sister filed suit last year against Baldwin and the other producers for negligence and other claims and have said they would have been able to flee their war-torn country if Hutchins was still alive.
The production company settled with Matthew Hutchins for an undisclosed amount in 2022.
