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The weapons supervisor for the film Rust has been jailed for 18 months following the fatal shooting of the film’s cinematographer on set.

Hannah Gutierrez, 26, was sentenced today after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by jurors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, following a trial.

She was in charge of weapons during the production of the western film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the incident, while director Joel Souza was injured.

Hannah Gutierrez during her sentencing hearing. Pic: Eddie Moore/Reuters
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Hannah Gutierrez during her sentencing hearing. Pic: Eddie Moore/Reuters

Jurors sitting on Gutierrez’s trial reached their verdict after a two-week trial during which they heard evidence from dozens of witnesses, including eyewitnesses, FBI evidence analysts and an ammunition supplier to Rust, as well as Mr Souza, during a 10-day trial.

A statement from Ms Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, was read aloud to the court during Gutierrez’s sentencing.

In it, she said her life had been split in two and that time didn’t heal, rather it only prolonged her pain and suffering.

“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child. There are no words to describe,” Ms Solovey, who is from Ukraine, said.

Halyna Hutchins.
Pic:Shutterstock
Image:
Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Shutterstock

‘You turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon’

Handing Gutierrez the maximum sentence, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said a conditional discharge was not appropriate and that leaving the weapons supervisor in a detention centre would “bring you a pass you do not deserve”.

“I did not hear you take responsibility in your allocution, you said you were sorry but not you were ‘sorry for what you did’. It was your attorney that had to tell the court you were remorseful,” the judge said.

“The term remorse, a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs, that’s not you.”

She said Gutierrez’s actions amounted to a “serious, violent offence” that was “committed in a physically violent manner”.

“You were the armourer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone. You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” the judge added.

“If not for you, Ms Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”

Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set where it was prohibited and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

They had urged the judge to impose an 18-month sentence and designate Gutierrez-Reed as a “serious violent offender” to limit her eligibility for a sentence reduction later.

But defence lawyers said the weapons supervisor will forever be affected negatively by intense publicity associated with her prosecution in parallel with an A-list actor, and has suffered from anxiety, fear and depression as a result.

After the verdict, her legal team had requested a new trial and asked for her to be released from prison.

What is happening with Baldwin’s case?

Alec Baldwin
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Alec Baldwin pictured on the set of Rust

Baldwin, 66, a producer for the film as well as its star, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter and faces a separate trial on 10 July. He has denied any wrongdoing.

His trial is being overseen by the same judge who sentenced Gutierrez-Reed.

Baldwin was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting. Those charges were dropped a few months later based on evidence the hammer of the revolver might have been modified, allowing it to fire without the trigger being pulled.

The star was then charged again in January this year.

Baldwin has said he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – and the weapon fired.

His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped once again. Prosecutors responded to this last week, filing a 32-page document which claims that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.

Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.

Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’ widower an executive producer.

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Everything you need to know about Harvey Weinstein’s retrial – and why he still won’t be released from prison

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Everything you need to know about Harvey Weinstein's retrial – and why he still won't be released from prison

Seven years after allegations against him first emerged online, Harvey Weinstein is back in court.

When the accusations surfaced in late 2017, the American actress Alyssa Milano tweeted: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

This gave birth to what we now know as the #MeToo movement and a flood of women – famous and not – sharing stories of gender-based violence and harassment.

Weinstein was jailed in 2020 and has been held at New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison complex ever since.

Today, jury selection begins for the case against the 73-year-old, where the original charges of rape and sexual assault will be heard again.

Here we look at why there’s a retrial – and why he will likely remain behind bars – and what has happened to #MeToo.

Why is there a retrial?

Weinstein is back in court because his first two convictions were overturned last April and are now being retried.

In 2020 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting ex-production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006 and raping former actor Jessica Mann in 2013.

Miriam (Mimi) Haley arrives at court in New York in 2020. Pic: AP
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Miriam (Mimi) Haley arrives at court in New York in 2020. Pic: AP

Jessica Mann outside court in Manhattan in July 2024. Pic: AP
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Jessica Mann outside court in Manhattan in July 2024. Pic: AP

But in April 2024, New York’s highest court overturned both convictions due to concerns the judge had made improper rulings, including allowing a woman to testify who was not part of the case.

At a preliminary hearing in January this year, the former Hollywood mogul, who has cancer and heart issues, asked for an earlier date on account of his poor health, however, that was denied.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court for his sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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Arriving at court for his original trial in New York in February 2020. Pic: Reuters

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When the retrial was decided upon last year, Judge Farber also ruled that a separate charge concerning a third woman should be added to the case.

In September 2024, the unnamed woman filed allegations that Weinstein forced oral sex on her at a hotel in Manhattan in 2006.

Defence lawyers tried to get the charge thrown out, claiming prosecutors were only trying to bolster their case, but Judge Farber decided to incorporate it into the current retrial.

Weinstein denies all the allegations against him and claims any sexual contact was consensual.

Why won’t he be released?

Even if the retrial ends in not guilty verdicts on all three counts, Weinstein will remain behind bars at Rikers Island.

This is because he was sentenced for a second time in February 2023 after being convicted of raping an actor in a Los Angeles hotel room in 2013.

Harvey Weinstein, who was extradited from New York to Los Angeles to face sex-related charges, listens in court during a pre-trial hearing, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., July 29, 2021. Etienne Laurent/Pool via REUTERS
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At a pre-trial hearing in Los Angeles in July 2021. Pic: Reuters

He was also found guilty of forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object in relation to the same woman, named only in court as Jane Doe 1.

The judge ruled that the 16-year sentence should be served after the 23-year one imposed in New York.

Weinstein’s lawyers are appealing this sentence – but for now, the 16 years behind bars still stand.

Has #MeToo made a difference – and what’s changed?

“MeToo was another way of women testifying about sexual violence and harassment,” Dr Jane Meyrick, associate professor in health psychology at the University of West England (UWE), tells Sky News.

“It exposed the frustration around reporting cases and showed the legal system was not built to give women justice – because they just gave up on it and started saying it online instead.

“That was hugely symbolic – because most societies are built around the silencing of sexual violence and harassment.”

Women on a #MeToo protest march in Los Angeles in November 2017. Pic: Reuters
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Women on a #MeToo protest march in Los Angeles in November 2017. Pic: Reuters

After #MeToo went viral in 2017, the statute of limitation on sexual assault cases was extended in several US states, giving victims more time to come forward, and there has been some reform of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), which were regularly used by Weinstein.

This has resulted in more women speaking out and an increased awareness of gender-based violence, particularly among women, who are less inclined to tolerate any form of harassment, according to Professor Alison Phipps, a sociologist specialising in gender at Newcastle University.

“There’s been an increase in capacity to handle reports in some organisations and institutions – and we’ve seen a lot of high-profile men brought down,” she says.

“But the #MeToo movement has focused on individual men and individual cases – rather than the culture that allows the behaviour to continue.

“It’s been about naming and shaming and ‘getting rid’ of these bad men – by firing them from their jobs or creating new crimes to be able to send more of them to prison – not dealing with the problem at its root.”

Actress Alyssa Milano at the Emmy awards in September 2017. Pic: AP
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Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted about #MeToo when the Weinstein accusations surfaced. Pic: AP

Dr Meyrick, who wrote the book #MeToo For Women And Men: Understanding Power Through Sexual Harassment, gives the example of the workplace and the stereotype of “bumping the perp”, or perpetrator.

“HR departments are still not designed to protect workers – they’re built to suppress and make things go away.” As a result, she says, men are often “quietly moved on” with “no real accountability”.

The same is true in schools, Prof Phipps adds, where she believes concerns around the popularity among young boys of self-proclaimed misogynist and influencer Andrew Tate are being dealt with too “punitively”.

“The message is ‘we don’t talk about Andrew Tate here’ and ‘you shouldn’t be engaging with him’,” she says. “But what we should be doing is asking boys and young men: ‘why do you like him?’, ‘what’s going on here?’ – that deeper conversation is missing,” she says.

Weinstein in his heyday, pictured on a red carpet in 2015
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The former film producer on the red carpet in Los Angeles in 2015. Pic: AP

Have high-profile celebrity cases helped?

Both experts agree they will have inevitably empowered some women to come forward.

But they stress they are often “nothing like” most other cases of sexual violence or harassment, which makes drawing comparisons “dangerous”.

Referencing the Weinstein case in the US and Gisele Pelicot‘s in France, Dr Meyrick says: “They took multiple people over a very long period of time to reach any conviction – a lot of people’s experiences are nothing like that.”

Prof Phipps adds: “They can create an idea that it’s only ‘real’ rape if it’s committed by a serial sex offender – and not every person who perpetrates sexual harm is a serial offender.”

People take part in a gathering in support of 71-year-old Gisele Pelicot who was allegedly drugged by her ex-husband and raped by dozens of men while unconscious, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Placard reads, "support for Gisle Pelicot." (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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A woman holds a ‘support Gisele Pelicot’ placard at a march in Paris during her husband’s rape case. Pic: AP

Gisele Pelicot. Pic: Reuters
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Gisele Pelicot outside court. Pic: Reuters

Part of her research has focused on ‘lad culture’ in the UK and associated sexual violence at universities.

She says: “A lot of that kind of violence happens in social spaces, where there are drugs and alcohol and young people thrown together who don’t know where the boundaries are.

“That doesn’t absolve them of any responsibility – but comparing those ‘lads’ to Harvey Weinstein seems inappropriate.”

Dr Meyrick says most victims she has spoken to through her research “wouldn’t go down the legal route” – and prosecution and conviction rates are still extremely low.

“Most don’t try for justice. They just want to be believed and heard – that’s what’s important and restorative,” she says.

But specialist services that can support victims in that way are underfunded – and not enough is being done to change attitudes through sex education and employment policy, she warns.

“Until we liberate men from the masculine roles they’re offered by society – where objectification of women is normalised as banter – they will remain healthy sons of the patriarchy.

“We need transformative, compassionate education for young men – and young women. That’s where the gap still is.”

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Aimee Lou Wood hits out at ‘mean and unfunny’ SNL joke

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Aimee Lou Wood hits out at 'mean and unfunny' SNL joke

The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood has called a sketch making fun of her teeth “mean and unfunny”.

The 31-year-old British actress posted an Instagram story about the joke on US TV show Saturday Night Live (SNL), in which comedian Sarah Sherman used exaggerated prosthetic teeth to do an impression of her.

Production shot of actress Aimee Lou Wood from S3 of The White Lotus Credit: HBO
From HBO media pack. Source: https://press.wbd.com/na/property/white-lotus/images
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Pic: HBO

In the skit, titled The White Potus, Donald Trump and his family were reimagined as The White Lotus’s Ratliff family, dealing with the backlash to the US president’s recently introduced tariffs.

The third season of Mike White’s hit hotel drama has just concluded on Sky Atlantic.

While the other characters in the skit were shown in the guise of real-life political figures, Wood, who plays Chelsea in the show, was show in character talking about a monkey.

Wood, who shot to fame on Netflix’s Sex Education, said she was the only character in the piece that was “punched down on”.

She also said a part of the parody that joked about fluoride, following recent debates in the US as to if it should be removed from the tap water, was missing the point as she has “big gap teeth not bad teeth”.

Wood wrote: “Yes, take the piss for sure – that’s what the show is about – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”

The Stockport-born star also flagged Sherman’s poor attempt at a Mancunian accent.

But Wood went on to say that she wasn’t “hating” on Sherman personally, just “on the concept”.

Production shot of actress Aimee Lou Wood from S3 of The White Lotus Credit: HBO
From HBO media pack. Source: https://press.wbd.com/na/property/white-lotus/images
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Pic: HBO

Wood also flagged an online comment that said: “It was a sharp and funny skit until it suddenly took a screeching turn into 1970s misogyny,” adding, “This sums up my view”.

After sharing her opinions, Wood said she had received “thousands of messages in agreement” and so was “glad I said something”.

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The White Lotus is set in ‘actual paradise’

Wood shared comments of support she had received.

One, from an unnamed fan, said she too had “a big gap” in her teeth, as well as “an overbite” and that while she had been previously considering “spending thousands on fixing it,” seeing Wood look “gorgeous” on The White Lotus had made her reconsider.

Wood said SNL has since apologised to her.

Wood previously said, during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, that the positive reception to her performance was “a real full-circle moment after being bullied for my teeth forever”.

NBC, which airs SNL, has been contacted for comment.

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Upstairs, Downstairs actress Jean Marsh dies

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Upstairs, Downstairs actress Jean Marsh dies

Jean Marsh, star of Upstairs, Downstairs, has died aged 90, a friend has confirmed.

Marsh’s friend, director Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, said in a statement to the PA news agency that the actress “died peacefully in bed looked after by one of her very loving carers”.

“You could say we were very close for 60 years,” he added. “She was as wise and funny as anyone I ever met, as well as being very pretty and kind, and talented as both an actress and writer.

“An instinctively empathetic person who was loved by everyone who met her. We spoke on the phone almost every day for the past 40 years.”

Robert Blake and Jean Marsh with their Emmy Awards in 1975. Pic: AP
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Robert Blake and Jean Marsh with their Emmy Awards in 1975. Pic: AP

Marsh was best known for her role as Rose in Upstairs, Downstairs, for which she won an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series in 1976.

She co-created the series – about life in Edwardian England – with Dame Eileen Atkins.

Jean Marsh in 1975. Pic: PA
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Jean Marsh in 1975. Pic: PA

Born on 1 July 1934 in Stoke Newington, north London, Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh’s mother worked in a bar and as a theatre dresser, while her father was a handyman and printer’s assistant.

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Marsh took dance and mime classes as therapy for an illness at a young age, and began acting on stage with a stint at Huddersfield Rep in the 1950s.

She then transferred to London, and at just 12 years old made her West End debut in The Land Of The Christmas Stockings at The Duke of York’s Theatre.

Gordon Jackson, as butler Hudson and Jean Marsh, as parlour maid Rose Buck. Pic: PA
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Gordon Jackson, as butler Hudson and Jean Marsh, as parlour maid Rose Buck. Pic: PA

A success in the US, Marsh appeared in iconic shows such as The Twilight Zone, Danger Man, Hawaii Five-O and Murder, She Wrote.

She also made appearances in classic British shows, including Doctor Who – where she played William Hartnell’s short-lived companion Sara Kingdom – and Detective.

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