Hollywood Scandals: Armorer Handed Off Bag of Cocaine After Shooting

Armorer Handed Off Bag of Cocaine After Shooting

The church building on the set of Rust, surrounded by film equipment.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office
Prosecutors in the “Rust” case allege that the film’s armorer handed bag of cocaine to another person on the evening after Halyna Hutchins was killed.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed was charged last week with evidence tampering for allegedly handing off the drugs in October 2021. Prosecutors allege that by doing so, she interfered with the investigation into Hutchins’ death.

Gutierrez Reed was already facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter for loading a live round into Alec Baldwin’s gun. The prosecution has claimed that Gutierrez Reed was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the production, and may have been hung over at the time of the shooting

Baldwin was initially charged as well for negligently firing the weapon and killing the cinematographer, but those charges were dropped.

“The circumstances of the transfer of evidence strongly support the charge that the defendant transferred the cocaine to avoid prosecution and prevent law enforcement from obtaining highly inculpatory evidence directly related the defendant’s handling of the firearm and the circumstances of the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins,” the prosecutors wrote.

The special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, are seeking order that would keep the witness’ identity a secret. According to the motion, the witness fears being “blacklisted” from the film industry for coming forward

Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, has opposed that request.

“The state wants to publish salacious allegations about Ms. Gutierrez Reed in a secret procedure, which is not condoned by the rules or constitution,” Bowles said in an email. “If the state really believes these allegations, why the secrecy?”

The prosecutors acknowledge that the witness’ identity will become public eventually, but say the person wishes to remain anonymous for as long as possible.

Bowles has sought to have the case thrown out, citing numerous irregularities and missteps by the prosecution. He previously stated that the tampering charge was “retaliatory and vindictive,” and that it was filed without providing notice or witness statements ahead of time.

Gutierrez Reed has been scheduled to make a first appearance on the new charge on July 19, via Google Meets. A preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Aug. 9 and is expected to last about a week.

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