Alec Baldwin still hasn’t turned over his phone, investigators say
Alec Baldwin still hasn’t turned over his cellphone to police nearly a month after New Mexico authorities secured a search warrant for the device following the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, police said Thursday.
Investigators from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office want the phone because they believe it contains key conversations related to what led to the prop-gun death of Hutchins while on the set of “Rust” last October.
In a news release Thursday, the office described the steps it’s taken to obtain the phone but said “to date, the cell phone has not been turned over to authorities.”
Following the approval of the search warrant on Dec. 16 last year, the lead detective investigating the death notified Baldwin’s attorney of the warrant over email, who confirmed receipt of the document, police said.
When Baldwin, 63, failed to immediately turn over the phone pursuant to the warrant, the sheriff’s office got the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office involved, which said it was in negotiations with the actor’s attorney to get his consent to obtain the device and its contents.
Last week, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office on Long Island, where Baldwin owns a home, said it received a request from Santa Fe authorities asking for help obtaining the phone, Sgt. Paul Spinella told The Post on Thursday.
Spinella explained the office received the warrant from Santa Fe but because the laws in New Mexico are written differently than New York’s, the request was sent to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to determine its legality and how they can or cannot help.
The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office wasn’t aware of where the matter stood early Thursday afternoon and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Moments before Hutchins was killed, Baldwin was practicing a “cross draw” with a revolver on the set of the doomed Western after he’d been told the gun was not loaded and was safe for on-set use. He has claimed in interviews that he did not pull the trigger.
He insisted in an Instagram video Saturday that he was complying with the investigation and any suggestion that he isn’t is “bulls–t” and “a lie.”
“This is a process where one state makes the request of another state,” he explained in the video.
“It’s a process that takes time, they have to specify what they want. We are one thousand percent going to comply with all that.”
His attorney didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
