A lawyer for Alec Baldwin has rigorously questioned a police technician over her investigation of the Rust shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, suggesting agents were more interested in prosecuting Baldwin than finding the source of a live round that killed the film's cinematographer. / (min cost $ 0 ) or signup to continue reading On day two of Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial, his lawyer Alex Spiro grilled a New Mexico crime scene technician over the search of prop supplier PDQ Arm & Prop that the lawyer alleged could have supplied six live rounds found on the movie set. Under cross examination, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office technician Marissa Poppell said they did not search every box at the PDQ premises in Albuquerque and she was not sure they found every live round in the building.
"Isn't it true that you were trying to get this over with so that the prosecutors could focus on Alec Baldwin?" Spiro asked Poppel. Poppel said police carried out a "reasonable" search given they had three officials to cover the premises, which had some rooms crammed to the ceiling with cardboard and plastic boxes. In opening statements on Wednesday prosecutors accused Baldwin of breaking "cardinal rules of firearm safety" as he "played make-believe with a real gun" in the 2021 shooting.
Hutchins died when Baldwin was directed to point his gun at her, he cocked it and it fired a live round as they set up a camera shot inside a movie-set church southwest of Santa Fe..