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The search warrant and accompanying affidavit
were filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court nearly two weeks
after a prosecutor overseeing the probe said that some people
who handled guns on the film set may end up facing criminal
charges stemming from Halyna Hutchins' death.
The warrant authorized investigators to seize Baldwin's Apple
iPhone in order to examine text messages, email correspondence,
social network communications, browser activity and other
information stored on the device, according to the documents.
A sheriff's detective, Alexandria Hancock, said in her affidavit
that she sought a court order requiring Baldwin to turn over his
phone after she had requested it from the actor and his attorney
on a voluntary basis and "was instructed to acquire a warrant."
Neither the warrant nor the seven-page affidavit cited any
particular material that investigators were looking for on
Baldwin's phone.
But suspects, victims and witnesses "often make and/or receive
telephone calls and/or messages before, during and/or after the
commission of crime(s). Such information, if it exists, may be
material and relevant to this investigation," the affidavit
stated.
It added: "There were several emails and text messages sent and
received regarding the movie production 'Rust' in the course of
(police) interviews” following the Oct. 21 shooting.
Baldwin has acknowledged he was holding a Colt .45 revolver
pistol on the film set when it went off during rehearsal,
discharging a live round that struck Hutchins in the chest and
killed her. Director Joel Souza was wounded.
But the actor said during a television interview that he never
pulled the trigger, and he denied responsibility for the
shooting. He also said then that he had no idea how a live round
got onto the set of the film.
According to detective Hancock's warrant, the film's "armorer,"
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the set,
said under questioning that she had loaded the gun with what she
believed were six "dummy rounds" before the ill-fated rehearsal
earlier that day.
Gutierrez-Reed also recounted having trouble inserting the sixth
round into the gun's cylinder, managing to fit it only after she
"cleaned 'it' out," the affidavit said.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, N.M.; Writing and additional
reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by David
Gregorio and Grant McCool)
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