After the Santa Fe Sheriff's Department has obtained a search warrant to seize the former 'Saturday Night Live' actor's phone, his lawyers believe that 'the evidence will show that Mr. Baldwin is not responsible' for the death of Halyna Hutchins.
- Dec 17, 2021
AceShowbiz - Alec Baldwin's phone is wanted by authorities as investigation into the "Rust" shooting is still ongoing. On Thursday, December 16, a judge signed a warrant which states that the actor, along with his attorney, was asked to turn over the phone.
The Santa Fe Sheriff's Department wants to search the phone for any evidence relating to the death of Halyna Hutchins. "Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwins' [sic] cell phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins," said Sheriff's Office Det. Alexandria Hancock in the search warrant.
"Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s)," she continued to state. "Such information, if it exists, may be material and relevant to this investigation. Affiant was also made aware there were several emails and text messages sent and received regarding the movie production 'Rust' in the course of interviews."
Det. Hancock went on noting, "Affiant has not included every fact related to this investigation, but has included only those facts Affiant believes are necessary to establish probable cause, for the issuance of a search warrant for the above mentioned device."
Baldwin had told police he had corresponded with armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed via email discussing different types of guns to use during production. The actor, who also produced the movie, said he requested a larger gun for filming, according to the search warrant.
Although Baldwin has been communicating with Det. Hancock during the police probe since the October 21 tragedy, the 63-year-old's lawyers refused to hand over the phone without an explicit warrant. After the Sheriff's Office obtained the warrant, Baldwin's attorney Aaron Dyer said, "We are confident that the evidence will show that Mr. Baldwin is not responsible civilly or criminally for what occurred on October 21, and he continues to cooperate with authorities."
"We proactively requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could take steps to protect Mr. Baldwin’s family and personal information that is clearly unrelated to the investigation," the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP lawyer added. "A phone contains a person's entire life, and personal information needs to be protected. While they evaluate the phone information, we hope that the authorities continue to focus on how the live rounds got on the set in the first place."
Baldwin held the gun which discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the set of the western movie. The "30 Rock" alum said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos earlier this month that he didn't pull the trigger.
