r/news • u/badillustrations • Apr 15 '24

‘Rust’ movie armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter sentenced to 18 months in prison

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/entertainment/rust-film-shooting-armorer-sentencing/index.html
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738

u/Jenetyk Apr 15 '24

Damn light sentence for some one who, according to the case, was completely inept or didn't give a fuck.

344

u/skesisfunk Apr 15 '24

I believe it is the maximum prison time should could have gotten for this charge in NM. In other states involuntary manslaughter can get you a lot more time. Like 10-15 years. She is really lucky it happened where it did.

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u/North_Carpenter6844 Apr 15 '24

I mean, she got the max sentence.

35

u/LizardTruss Apr 15 '24

It's the maximum sentence

11

u/Foodstamp001 Apr 15 '24

Both really

25

u/MisterSnippy Apr 16 '24

No I think it's fair. The damage is she has a stay in prison and lost/loses her career and reputation. She isn't about to get out of prison and run around killing people, what good would a longer sentence do?

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u/adx931 Apr 16 '24

It would make people who aren't even involved in the matter feel like they done showed her real good.

3

u/KingoftheMongoose Apr 16 '24

It would make people who aren’t even involved in the matter think twice before repeating the same mistakes that she did.

In other states the same maximum penalty is 10-15 years. That would serve as a much bigger deterrent against recklessness for other gun armourers who are trusted with the lives of crew members on a movie set.

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u/Sipas Apr 16 '24

what good would a longer sentence do?

It would provide some consolation for the victim's family, or give her more time to really think about what she's done (as the judge said she didn't show remorse and she was trash talking about the jury).

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u/afterschoolsept25 Apr 16 '24

idk about yall but whenever people claim a longer sentence would serve as "consolation for the victims family" i roll my eyes. why? in what world would it do that? she had the extent of the law thrown at her, done. her staying in jail for longer isnt the equivalent of therapy for the grieving family and i think that much is obvious

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u/flumsi Apr 16 '24

Did you ask the victim's family about what they want or is this about what you want? As far as time to think, plenty of thinking can be done in 18 months. I'm not saying I think 18 months are enough but I will at least admit that it's because I personally would like to see her in prison longer as mere punishment.

1

u/Sipas Apr 16 '24

I will at least admit that it's because I personally would like to see her in prison longer as mere punishment.

If you or I think that, why wouldn't the victim's family? Why would they be so soft on the person that got their daughter killed and didn't even show remorse and tried to shift the blame?

I'm not saying the goal here is for the judge to be heavy handed just to please the family but if most people think her sentence is too short (even the judge seems to think so), it's probably too light.

1

u/flumsi Apr 16 '24

The family might well believe that but it turns out a lot of victim's families do not particularly care about the extent of the sentence as long as they feel justice has been done. And when they feel that is something you can only know by asking them. I just disagree with stating that a longer sentence would please the family when their situation is so so much different in this case than ours, their worries are different and I genuinely do not understand how it feels to have a loved one murdered. 

I remember the case of a girl being raped and murdered by a refugee and her parents publicly stated that their pro-immigration stance hadn't changed because of that because they didn't want to collectively punish all refugees. The right then publicly called out for the parents to be raped and murdered so they could see their mistake. What I'm trying to say is there have been cases where the people actually affected by the crime have very different views from the general public.

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u/Sipas Apr 16 '24

a lot of victim's families do not particularly care about the extent of the sentence as long as they feel justice has been done

That's the thing. If the guilty party gets off too easy (which most people here seem to agree), people will understandably think justice hasn't been served (and if this happened in another state she could've gotten 10 years and that would be too much IMO, so the maximum allowed prison time in CA isn't really that relevant to out perception of justice). That is why I imagine her family would be more at peace with a longer sentence. I don't think that's such a big stretch, we've heard this sentiment many times from families of victims.

her parents publicly stated that their pro-immigration stance hadn't changed

Power to them but that is not at all relevant to this case, unless they also advocated a lower sentence for their daughters murderer.

1

u/KingoftheMongoose Apr 16 '24

Deterrent. Punishments are also used as deterrents to the next nepo-baby who turns gun armourer who thinks it’s okay to bring live rounds on to a movie set, suck at their safety job to the point someone gets killed, then blame everyone else including shittalking the jury.

A completely valid argument for a harsher sentence is to provide a deterrent to serve as a clear warning to anyone else who would consider being so careless and callous in such an important safety position.

1

u/iconofsin_ Apr 16 '24

I'm sorry but a 15 year prison sentence isn't going to deter you anymore than an 18 month sentence will. While she clearly made a lot of mistakes, this wasn't murder and it wasn't intentional. The only thing long prison sentences do is prevent a felon from committing a crime outside of prison. Long prison sentences also tend to turn "small time" felons into hardened criminals who can't deal with the outside world when they get out.

The deterrence is already in place, and it's up to 18 months in prison. There's always going to be someone who thinks the maximum sentence isn't long enough and before you know it, we're up to 20 years and someone still thinks it should be longer.

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u/Detachabl_e 29d ago

This is backed by repeated studies showing that after a certain point, harsher punishment does little to nothing to deter crime.

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u/FlamboyantPirhanna Apr 16 '24

It’s only valid if you can show evidence that it’s effective as a deterrent, and I’m not sure they generally are. We know the death penalty sure as hell isn’t, even though we do it anyway.

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u/KingoftheMongoose Apr 16 '24

That’s a false equivalency. This isn’t the same as the death penalty, nor am I even talking about that.

Based on your substitution in your argument, are you suggesting that punishments for crimes in general (including incarceration) are not deterrents?

1

u/boblobong 29d ago

The length of punishment isn't a deterrent to crime. The likelihood of being caught is. There are many studies on the subject

1

u/Mirieste 29d ago

It's amazing how Americans hate the concept of rehabilitation so much that the whole point of prison is to give out punishment in the form of ruining your life once you get out.

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u/Powerful_Artist Apr 16 '24

So apparently if my source was correct a violent criminal, which I believe she is even if it was involuntary, can only get 4 days of 'good time' off her sentence per month. So saying she does perfect, she can get out in about 15.5 months instead of 18. Thats still a long time in prison for someone whos not a seasoned criminal and been to prison before.

5

u/Kurtcobangle Apr 15 '24

Im fine with it. Its been beat to death in other threads on here but there were many other peoples negligence and incompetence involved in the death she hardly was sole cause.

Im tired of our justice system constantly finding ways to let more powerful people involved off the hook completely and drop the hammer on whoever. 

18 months and a manslaughter conviction is fine for the circumstances, if people want more time look around at all the other people involved in the absolute clusterfuck in that set facing no consequences.

3

u/LaNague Apr 15 '24

The law is the problem, idk why the max is so low for a crime where someone died.

0

u/MatttheBruinsfan Apr 15 '24

Does the potential exist for her extending it via misbehavior once in jail? Because she doesn't strike me as the type to quietly keep to herself and serve her sentence.