Alec Baldwin’s phone has been demanded by the authorities who are investigating the accidental and fatal shooting at a New Mexico film set that killed a Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded a director.
According to the reports, authorities investigating the sad incident has demanded Alec Baldwin’s phone, as they believe it could hold evidence that might be helpful as they investigate the deadly shooting.
“Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwins’ phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins,” said Sheriff’s Office Det.
Alexandria Hancock in a search warrant approved by a judge today.
“Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone, due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s),” the affidavit goes on to say.
“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”
Even though Baldwin has been communicating with Det. Hancock during the ongoing police probe of the October 21 tragedy, the Rust star/producer’s lawyers refused to hand over the requested phone without an explicit warrant which the cops now have.
And they may have more on the man who was holding the 1880s gun that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
“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,” Det Hancock noted in her successful search warrant bid.
This is the fifth search warrant so far the Sheriff’s Office has obtained in its investigation of the Rust fatality. Baldwin’s attorneys say that they wanted a formal warrant for their client’s phone to protect his privacy.
“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,” Aaron Dyer said Thursday after the warrant for Alec Baldwin’s phone was approved.
“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.”
Interviewed on a number of occasions by the Sheriff’s Office, Baldwin in a sit-down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos earlier this month declared that he “did not pull the trigger” of the gun that killed Rust DP Hutchins. The Oscar-nominated actor said, “had no idea” how a live bullet made its way onto the set.
Following that interview, Baldwin deleted his Twitter account.