Alec Baldwin hands over his cell phone in the ‘Rust’ shooting investigation

Alec Baldwin has handed over his cell phone so it can be searched for in connection with the criminal investigation into the fatal Rust shooting.

On Friday morning, the star and producer of the low-budget western who fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21 provided her cellphone to sheriff’s deputies in New York, according to the county sheriff’s spokesperson. Santa Fe Juan Rios and Baldwin’s attorney.

Suffolk County New York Sheriffs Investigators will review the contents of Baldwin’s phone for text messages, emails, photos or other data that may be relevant to the Santa Fe County Sheriffs investigation in New Mexico on the accidental shooting, Rios said.

Once that data is pulled from the phone, they will provide it to us, Rios said.

As recently as Thursday, sheriff’s investigators expressed frustration over the delay in obtaining Baldwin’s cellphone.

New Mexico First Judicial Dist. Atti. Mary Carmack-Altwies, Santa Fe County’s senior law enforcement officer overseeing the case, stepped in to lead negotiations with Baldwin and his Los Angeles attorney, Aaron Dyer, to allow the looking for Baldwin’s phone.

The process was complicated because Baldwin did not provide his phone voluntarily, according to an affidavit for the search warrant.

Additionally, the actor had moved back to New York, where he has a home in the Hamptons, and New Mexico authorities seemed powerless to force him to return the phone.

Alec voluntarily provided his phone to authorities this morning so they could complete their investigation, Dyer said in a statement.

On December 16, Santa Fe County Magistrate Judge David Segura authorized a search warrant allowing local law enforcement to search Baldwin’s iPhone for evidence that may prove valuable to their investigation. on the fatal shooting that also injured director Joel Souza.

The search warrant issued by Segura was only enforceable in New Mexico, according to local attorneys, leading to the behind-the-scenes effort to craft a consent agreement. Because of these jurisdictional issues, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office was brought into the negotiations.

The various parties have reached an agreement on what data can be extracted from the phone, Rios said.

Baldwin’s delay in handing over the cellphone fueled further controversy surrounding his role in the tragedy.

Last weekend, Baldwin posted a video on Instagram denying he was trying to obstruct the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office investigation.

Any suggestion that I am not complying with requests or orders or requests or search warrants regarding my phone, i.e.[expletive], that’s a lie, Baldwin said in the video from his car.

It is a process by which one state makes a request to another state. Someone from another state can’t come to you and say, give me your phone, give me this, give me that. They can’t do that, Baldwin said in the video. They have to go through the state you live in. It is a process that takes time.

Dyer played down suggestions that Baldwin’s cellphone provided tantalizing evidence.

This case is not about his phone, and there is no answer on his phone. Alec did nothing wrong, the attorney said. Clearly he was told it was a cold gun and was following instructions when this tragic accident happened. The real question that needs to be answered is how the live rounds got to the set in the first place.

Earlier this week, 24-year-old gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez Reed sued New Mexico arms supplier Seth Kenney alleging he supplied a misidentified ammunition box containing live ammunition to the together. Kenney denied providing live ammunition to the set.