Alec Baldwin Trial Delves Into Sources of ‘Rust’ Gun and Bullets

The second day of Alec Baldwin’s trial went deep into the origins of a vintage Colt .45 revolver and the question of how live bullets got to the set of “Rust.”

Baldwin is accused of involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the film’s cinematographer. Prosecutors maintain that he negligently fired the weapon while preparing for a scene.

Baldwin has denied pulling the trigger. His lawyers argue that his gun handling is a distraction from the central question of how six live bullets — including the fatal one — got to set.

Alessandro Pietta, the gun’s manufacturer, came from Italy to testify about his company’s quality control measures. Under questioning from prosecutor Erlinda Johnson, he testified that the gun would not fire without a pull of the trigger.

“You want to release the hammer, you have to pull the trigger,” Pietta said, in accented English.

The gun was imported from Italy in 2017, and displayed at industry trade shows for several years before being sold to Seth Kenney, the man who supplied guns and dummy ammunition to “Rust.”

Baldwin’s defense team used its cross-examination of a crime scene technician to argue that investigators did not fully pursue whether Kenney also accidentally supplied the live bullets. The prosecution has long maintained that there is no evidence that the bullets came from him.

The defense has argued that after failing to track down the source of the bullets, investigators turned their attention to prosecuting Baldwin instead.

Thursday’s testimony became convoluted at times, as the lawyers went through photos of live and dummy rounds and asked jurors to pay attention to minute differences in size, shape and coloring.

The testimony did contain at least one new revelation.

Alex Spiro, the lead defense lawyer, asked technician Marissa Poppell about a “Good Samaritan” who recently came forward with rounds…