Police Confiscate Alec Baldwin’s Phone For ‘Rust’ Investigation

Santa Fe Police want to look at Alec Baldwin‘s phone for more possible information regarding the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins that happened nearly two months ago.

“Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwin’s cellphone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins,” said Sheriff 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 crimes,” the affidavit continues. “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.”

Throughout the investigation, Baldwin has been compliant with authorities giving any information he knows, and has been communicating with Det. Hancock, but his lawyers have refused to hand over the Rust star’s phone without an explicit warrant. Now, he has no choice.

Seizing Baldwin’s phone could provide information on how the 1880’s gun could have 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 abovementioned device,” Det. Hancock noted in her search warrant.

This is the fifth search warrant the Sheriff’s Office has obtained in its investigation of the tragedy.

The actor’s attorneys wanted a formal warrant to hand over 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 Dryer said Thursday after the warrant for the 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 said. “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.”