‘Rust’ Armorer Charged With Evidence Tampering, Defense Calls Move ‘Retaliatory and Vindictive’

variety.com:

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Prosecutors on Thursday accused “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed of tampering with evidence by handing off drugs to another person on the day of the fatal shooting on set.

Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, said the new charge came without prior notice or evidence to support it. “Something is rotten in Denmark,” Bowles said in an email. “This stinks to high heaven and is retaliatory and vindictive.” Gutierrez Reed is already facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The special prosecutors assigned to the case filed an amended complaint adding the additional charge. Also Thursday, Bowles revealed in a court filing that he had been accidentally copied on an email from the D.A.’s lead investigator, in which the investigator disparaged the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and its handling of the “Rust” case. “The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after their initial investigation is reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still have no words for,” wrote the investigator, Robert Shilling. “Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can/could clean up the mess delivered to youroffice in October 2022 (1 year since the initial incident…inexcusable).” The “Rust” prosecution has been plagued by a series of setbacks.

The D.A.’s office initially charged Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter for accidentally firing the gun, only to drop the charge after evidence surfaced that the gun may not have been functioning properly.