The original armorer for the movie The Last was charged with manslaughter after a live-ammunition gun was fired on set, killing the cinematographer, but he faces an additional charge of drug-related evidence tampering. The special prosecutor announced that The incident was announced Thursday.
The new charges against armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed “are related to transferring drugs to others,” on October 21, 2021, the day of the shooting, “for the purpose of preventing criminal prosecution,” Cali said. the prosecutor said. T. Morrissey said in his statement: Gutierrez Reed’s attorney said Gutierrez Reed intends to plead not guilty to both the tampering with evidence and manslaughter charges.
The additional charges were announced as tensions between prosecutors and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office over the case began to escalate. The investigator, who was removed from the case after working on the case for several months at the district attorney’s office, lashed out at the sheriff’s office in an email to prosecutors earlier this week.
“The actions of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after the initial investigation remain reprehensible and unprofessional,” investigator Robert Schilling said Tuesday. said in an email. “I am not a more skilled investigator than I or 200 who can/can clean up the mess that arrived at your office in October 2022 (one year after the first incident… unforgivable).”
Schilling did not elaborate on the email on Thursday, writing that he was bound by a confidentiality agreement. Sheriff’s Department spokesman Juan Rios declined to comment on the criticism.
Schilling, an independent contractor for the district attorney’s office who has been reporting to Mr Morrissey for several months, made the criticism in a memo referring to the decision to remove Mr Morrissey from the case. The email was provided to The New York Times on Thursday in response to an archival investigation.
The incident has been on the rise since 2021, when actor Alec Baldwin shot a gun while practicing on the set of The Last, killing cinematographer Halina Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. are faced with a complex situation.
The original prosecution team initially charged Baldwin with manslaughter. However, the charge was later dropped after a new team investigated evidence that suggested the gun he was practicing with had been modified. The special counsel who initially helped lead the case resigned after her appointment was challenged on legal grounds, and District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwis, who was in charge of the case, resigned, leaving Morrissey. and Jason Lewis as the new special counsel. Prosecutor.
Emails from former New Mexico Police Chief Shilling were sent to Morrissey, another member of the district attorney’s office, Carmack-Altwees, and possibly Morrissey’s attorney, Jason Bowles. Gutierrez Reid. (Mr Schilling said he accidentally sent the note to Mr Bowles because he has the same name as one of Mr Bowles’ bosses. worthy of,” he pointed out.)
In a statement Thursday, Bowles said the announcement of the additional charges, after a 20-month investigation and without prior notice to his client, was “shocking.”
“This follows the state’s dismissal of the lead investigator, who in an email expressed serious concerns about the investigation,” Bowles said. “This smells like heaven.”
Bowles said he has not seen any facts or eyewitness testimony to support the drug allegations.
In a statement, Morrissey defended the integrity of the law enforcement investigation, writing: If we, as special prosecutors, deem it necessary, we will engage the Department and our own investigative team to conduct the necessary follow-up. “
Amy Lewis, a member of the Clerk’s Office of the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, said on Thursday that amended crime information documents related to the case of Gutierrez Reed were presented to the court this morning, but the court He said: The filing had been delayed and the document had not yet been made public.
