Prosecutors on Thursday charged Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the Alec Baldwin movie "Rust," with evidence tampering related to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Santa Fe Country, New Mexico, prosecutors amended their previous criminal complaint to include the new charge against Gutierrez-Reed, who in January was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, Fox News Digital reported Friday.
According to the court filing obtained by ABC News, the evidence-tampering charge asserts that Gutierrez-Reed "did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution, or conviction of herself."
This latest charge comes a week after separate court filings from prosecutors claimed Gutierrez-Reed "was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the shooting of 'Rust,'" and was likely hung over when she loaded a prop firearm for Baldwin on Oct. 21, 2021. The firearm discharged a live round of ammunition that killed Hutchins.
Jason Bowles, a lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, responded to the latest charge in a statement: "It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it.
"This comes on the heels of the state letting its lead investigator go, and the investigator raising serious concerns about the investigation in an email," the statement continued. "This stinks to high heaven and is retaliatory and vindictive."
The BBC reported that Bowles on Thursday also filed a motion to dismiss the evidence-tampering charge based on an email sent to prosecutors Tuesday by the case's lead investigator for the Santa Fe District Attorney's office, Robert Schiller. Prosecutors accidentally included Bowles on Schiller's email, which criticized the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office for its October 2022 report as well as its "reprehensible and unprofessional" conduct during and after its investigation of the shooting.
Schiller, who intends to step down from his position next month, also said in his email, "Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can/could clean up the mess delivered to your office in October 2022."
New Mexico special prosecutor Kari Morrisey defended the amended filing against Gutierrez-Reed.
"The prosecutors are determined to get the facts of the case before the court," Morrisey said in a statement. "The ongoing investigation revealed strong evidence that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed tampered with evidence on the day of the shooting by asking another person to take possession of her narcotics. She is properly charged with tampering with evidence, and the prosecution will provide Mr. Bowles all evidence related to the new charge in a timely fashion."
Morrisey's statement also addressed Bowles' comments regarding not providing prior notice or supporting statements or evidence. "Defendants are never entitled to notice that an information is being filed, the information is the notice. Defendants are not entitled to discovery prior to charges being filed. As a former prosecutor Mr. Bowles knows this to be true."
Baldwin, who held the firearm when it went off and fatally shot Hutchins, was charged alongside Gutierrez-Reed on two counts of involuntary manslaughter in January. Charges against him were dropped in April, though he must still contend with several civil lawsuits, including ones from set gaffer Serge Svetnoy, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, and Hutchins' parents and sister.
ABC News reported that there were also gun enhancement charges against both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed, but they were dropped in February.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.
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