(Reuters) -Prosecutors on Thursday charged "Rust" movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed with tampering with evidence in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting of the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.
In a court filing, prosecutors accused Gutierrez-Reed of transferring narcotics to another person on Oct. 21, 2021, the day Hutchins was shot, with the intent to "prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself."
Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis provided no further information regarding the new charge, which is in addition to an existing involuntary manslaughter charge.
Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer, called the new charge "retaliatory and vindictive."
Bowles said the new charge followed the prosecution's move to fire its lead investigator Robert Shilling after Shilling raised serious concerns about the investigation into Hutchins' death in an email Bowles provided in a court filing.
Hutchins died when a revolver actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with fired a live round. Gutierrez-Reed told police she mistakenly loaded the live round into the revolver believing it to be a dummy round, according to a transcription of a police interview.
(Reporting by Andrew HayEditing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)