The man in the armor in the ill-fated movie rust was charged with tampering with evidence on Thursday (June 22) after prosecutors allege she delivered drugs on the day Halyna Hutchins was shot dead.

Hutchins, the cameraman for Alec Baldwin-led-Western, died in October 2021 after a prop gun held by Baldwin discharged a live bullet.

Gutierrez-Reed is the only defendant left in the manslaughter case after prosecutors in April dropped charges against Baldwin.

Now, special prosecutors appointed to the case say that Gutierrez-Reed “transferred the drugs to another person for the purpose of preventing her own arrest, prosecution or conviction.”

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, called the action “retaliation and hatred.”

“It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special counsel is now bringing an entirely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed without prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports or What evidence supports that allegation,” Bowles said in a statement. .

The new allegation comes a week after prosecutors allege in a court filing that Gutierrez-Reed drank and smoked marijuana in the evening during the filming of “Rust” and was likely intoxicated. alcohol on the day a live bullet was inserted into the gun Baldwin used.

Bowles called the charge a “character assassination” from prosecutors with weak facts that the defense had asked the judge to dismiss.

In his own filing Thursday, Bowles revealed he was unwittingly included in an email sent to District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies from her lead investigator in the case, who criticized the reaction. law enforcement response to the shooting.

“The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after their initial investigation was reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still cannot express,” Robert Schilling wrote in an email. wrote in an email in which he said he would resign as special prosecutors. can use their own enumerator. “Neither me nor 200 more skilled investigators than I can/can clean up the mess delivered to your office.”

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Bowles said in his filing that the email demonstrates the weakness of the lawsuit against his client. He said it showed that the prosecution had withheld evidence from the defense.

Emails seeking comment from the Sheriff’s Office and special prosecutors were not immediately returned.

Additional Associated Press reporting