Alec Baldwin possessed one of many rounds of live ammunition found on the Rust set, a witness claimed during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Crime scene technician Marissa Poppell was called to testify for the prosecution on Thursday and told the jury that investigators found live bullets on a prop cart, "co-mingled" with dummy rounds.
They were also found in hostlers worn by Baldwin, who fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a real bullet, and another worn by actor Jensen Ackles.
Newsweek has contacted reps for Ackles for comment.
Baldwin's defense attorney Alex Spiro asked Poppell, "Mr. Ackles, another actor on the set, turns out that he — as he acted, as he performed — had a live bullet in his bandolier, correct?"
"Yes," she replied.
"You have no reason to think Mr. Ackles had any idea that was there, right?" Spiro asked.
"Correct," Poppell said.
The jury was also shown photos of live and dummy rounds of ammo from the set, which to the untrained eye, could be difficult to tell apart. The live rounds appeared to have a silver dot at the bottom of the casing rather than a gold or bronze shade.
"Your working theory, as you evaluated the ammunition and looked at the similarity between the Starline nickel live and the Starline nickel dummies is that they could have been easily commingled there?" Spiro asked.
"Yes," Poppell replied.
"In other words, somebody could have mistaken one for the other, right?" he continued.
"Yes," she said.
Ackles spoke about the Rust shooting in a 2022 interview with USA Today.
"You can chalk it up to negligence or try to point a finger at anybody," Ackles said at the time. "At the end of the day, it was a horrible, horrible accident that ended with a life. Unfortunately, those do happen all the time around the world everywhere. You don't normally witness them like I did, and it's certainly shocking and jarring. It makes you value life even more than you had."
The actor, who went on to call Hutchins "an incredible talent" in the interview, left the film after the shooting, citing scheduling conflicts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Actor Josh Hopkins filled his role.
In a second win for the state on Thursday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer allowed a portion of a transcript documenting Baldwin's statement of understanding the danger of guns.
The passage included a statement Baldwin made, claiming he knew the fact that "blanks can kill."
The 30 Rock star could face up to 18 months in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter from the 2021 incident.
It was revealed Thursday that Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is currently serving her 18-month sentence for her role in Hutchin's death, will not testify against Baldwin, citing her Fifth Amendment rights.
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