Lawyer claims Rust armourer was ‘framed’

The lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed insisted on Wednesday that “sabotage” and a “tampered” crime scene were evidence of the frame job for the shooting last month on the New Mexico film set, the New York Postreports.

The statement came a day after Ms Gutierrez-Reed met with Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriffs about the double shooting. The cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed and director Joel Souza injured when Baldwin fired a “hot” prop gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks.

“We are asking for a full and complete investigation of all of the facts, including the live rounds themselves, how they ended up in the ‘dummies’ box, and who put them in there,” lawyer Jason Bowles said.

The lawyer said his client shared new “critical” information with local sheriffs as they await findings from the FBI and prosecutors.

“We are convinced that this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed. We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived,” Mr Bowles said, without providing any details to back up his claim.

Mr Bowles had previously tied his theory to worker discontent on the set of the western picture, as camera crew members organised a walkout to protest poor working conditions hours before the accident.

“I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, want to prove a point, want to say that they’re disgruntled, they’re unhappy,” he told NBC’s Today show last week.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday and said that investigators had no idea how the live rounds ended up on set, and that an investigation could take months. She also discredited Mr Bowles’ claim of sabotage.

“I know that some defence attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and have used the word sabotage. We do not have any proof,” Ms Carmack-Altwies said.

“How they [the live rounds] got there, I think will be one of the most important factors going into a charging decision.”

Ms Gutierrez-Reed, 24, previously said in a statement released through her lawyer that she was “incredibly safety conscious and took her job very seriously”.

Charges had yet to be filed in connection with the double shooting, but a lawsuit was filed on Wednesday against nearly two dozen defendants, including Ms Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin.

Serge Svetnoy, head of lighting on the ill-fated film, alleged that negligence caused him “severe emotional distress” after he held the head of his dying close friend Hutchins.

“They should never, ever, have had live rounds on this set,” Mr Svetnoy’s lawyer Gary Dordick said.

This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Lawyer for ‘Rust’ armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed claims she was ‘framed’