It has been confirmed by the Suffolk Country police in New York state that Alec Baldwin handed over his phone and password to the police over the weekend.
Authorities will be studying the phone for “relevant information” although Baldwin’s lawyer insisted that it won’t provide any “answers”.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office was granted a search warrant for the phone in December after investigators into the death of Halyna Hutchins (shot and killed on the set of Rust by a gun Baldwin was holding) had suspicions that evidence related to the case may be on the phone but it was revealed earlier this month that it had not yet been turned over.
The lawyer, Aaron Dyer, told Deadline:
“Alec voluntarily provided his phone to the authorities this morning so they can finish their investigation. But this matter isn’t about his phone, and there are no answers on his phone. Alec did nothing wrong. It is clear that he was told it was a cold gun, and was following instructions when this tragic accident occurred. The real question that needs to be answered is how live rounds got on the set in the first place.”
The news follows days after Baldwin slammed suggestions that he wasn’t complying with the investigation.
He said in a video shared to Instagram:
“Any suggestion that I am not complying with requests or orders or demands or search warrants about my phone, that’s b*******, 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, give me that.’ They can’t do that. They’ve got to go through the state you live in. And it’s a process that takes time and they have to specify what exactly they want. They can’t just go through your phone and take your photos or your love letters to your wife or what have you, I really don’t know. But of course, we are 1,000 per cent going to comply with all that, we’re perfectly fine with that.”
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office filed for a search warrant on 17 December, as they said that material “relevant to the investigation” could be on the device.
Detective Alexandria Hancock wrote in the search warrant: “Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone, due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s). 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.”
Sources: MSN, Yahoo
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