The ongoing inquiry into the death of late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins continues to move forward on several fronts. One facet of the entire matter involves actor Alec Baldwin and an alleged case of non-compliance with the Rust investigation, in which he’s a person of interest. After those rumors have continued to be reported, the actor has responded with his own statement on the subject.
This particular story involves Mr. Baldwin’s cell phone, which according to sources has been requested by New Mexico law enforcement through a search warrant. Allegedly issued in mid-December around the same time a subpoena was issued in another prong of the investigation, reports have suggested that the actor has not complied with said warrant. Through another personal video through his Instagram account, Alec Baldwin has addressed these allegations as follows:
One other quick note: any suggestion that I am not complying with requests or orders or demands or search warrants about my phone that’s bullshit, that’s a lie. This is a process, where one state makes the request of another state. Someone from another state can’t come to you and say ‘give me your phone, give me this.’ They have to go through the state that you live in. It’s a process that takes time. They have to specify exactly what they want, they can’t just go through your phone and take your photos or love letters to your wife or what have you. I really don’t know. But of course we are 1000 percent going to comply with all of that, we’re perfectly fine with that. Consider the source, the people that tell you that.
Reading through the portion of the actor’s statement presented above, Mr. Baldwin seems to claim that the process of obtaining his cell phone isn’t as simple as it sounds. Pledging full cooperation with the investigation, it looks like his point of contention is the method of securing this potential evidence, as well as the scope of what’s to be gathered. Naturally, this is merely what Alec Baldwin is claiming to be the proper procedure, which may or may not be the letter of the law.
Last October, during a day of filming on the set of Baldwin’s latest film, Rust, a prop gun was reported to have been loaded with live ammunition. During the scene in question, the gun misfired in Mr. Baldwin’s hand, grazing director Joel Souza, but fatally wounding Halyna Hutchins. Since that tragic incident, the ongoing investigation has seen the entertainment industry reacting in its own way; especially through pledges to remove live weapons from future productions.
Reacting to the ensuing legal proceedings and press coverage, Alec Baldwin has been restrained, but focused. Acknowledging that people have both supported and spoken against him in the process, he continues to bring up the core point in all that is going on. Speaking to the memory of Ms. Hutchins, he included this in his overall remarks:
The only way we can honor the death of Halyna Hutchins is to find the truth. What I’m working toward, insisting on, demanding, is that the organizations involved in this investigation do everything in their power to find out what really happened. The best way to honor the death of Halyna Hutchins is to find out the truth.
As this legal inquiry continues to progress, the truth is exactly what all involved are trying to discover. There’s no telling how much longer it will take, or what measures will need to be taken, to get to those definitive answers. All anyone can hope for is a resolution that helps comfort Ms. Hutchins’ grieving friends and family, and that a tragedy of this magnitude becomes even harder, if not impossible, to repeat.