Jan. 14 (UPI) — Authorities on Thursday said they are still waiting for actor Alec Baldwin to comply with a nearly month-old search warrant for his cellphone as part of their investigation into the fatal shooting on the movie set of “Rust.”
However, the veteran actor’s lawyer told UPI that an agreement has been reached for the phone to be handed over to the authorities this week and logistics were now being finalized.
The warrant was issued by a magistrate judge Dec. 16, and authorities said they are still waiting for Baldwin to give them the phone despite the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office having asked the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office for assistance.
“The district attorney’s office began working with Mr. Baldwin’s attorney to retrieve the phone,” the sheriff’s office said in a release emailed to UPI.
The district attorney has since been in negotiations with Baldwin’s attorney to retrieve the phone and its contents, but “[t]o date, the cellphone has not been turned over to authorities,” the sheriff’s office said.
In a statement Thursday night to UPI, Baldwin’s attorney, Aaron Dyer, said that an agreement was reached with the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office last weekend and “Baldwin’s phone is being turned over this week for review.”
“Ever since this tragic incident, Mr. Baldwin has continued to cooperate with the authorities, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue,” Dyer said. “We requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could protect his privacy on other matters unrelated to ‘Rust’ and have been working through that process.”
“We are finalizing logistics with the authorities in New York who are assisting in this matter,” he said.
The authorities have sought the phone as part of their investigation into the death of Halyna Hutchins, who was shot Oct. 21 by a prop gun held by Baldwin on the New Mexico set of “Rust.” The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured in the shooting.
Baldwin has said in a television interview that he did not pull the trigger and that it misfired. No criminal charges have yet to be filed against the veteran actor or anyone else involved in the film.
