A new report into the fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust appears to cast doubt over star and producer Alec Baldwin's accounts of events.
Mr Baldwin denies pulling the trigger of the prop gun which went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Weapons experts have now said the trigger would have "had to be pulled".
The actor's representatives told the PA news agency they had no comment to make on the latest development in the ongoing case.
Charges of involuntary manslaughter against Mr Baldwin were dropped in April, but prosecutors said it did not "absolve Mr Baldwin of criminal culpability".
They said charges against the star could be refiled over the October 2021 shooting, which occurred on the set of the western movie.
A new report, written by weapons experts Lucien Haag and Mike Haag, was given prosecutors in New Mexico on Tuesday.
According to the documents, prosecutors previously stated that they had information that there had been an alleged modification of the gun used by Baldwin on the Rust set.
Lawyers for Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, said the Haags' report "does not indicate any modification to the gun" and "specifies that the trigger had to be pulled".
"Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver," said an excerpt of the weapons report included in the court documents.
"If the hammer had not been fully retracted to the rear, and were to slip from the handler's thumb without the trigger depressed, the half cock or quarter cock notches in the hammer should have prevented the firing pin from reaching any cartridge in the firing chamber."
It continued: "If these features were somehow bypassed, a conspicuously off-centre firing pin impression would result."
Last week, Ms Gutierrez-Reed pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges, related to the shooting.
Her plea came ahead of a jury trial scheduled for 6 December looking into the death of Ms Hutchins at the age of 42.
It is not yet clear whether or not the findings of the new report will result in charges against Mr Baldwin being refiled.
Nobody should be surprised to find out Baldwin may have lied.
Not trying to minimize what happened here, because with all the information provided, it certainly sounds like corners were cut, and people acted recklessly, which ended in tragedy.
That being said, it's certainly possible that he doesn't actually remember correctly what happened. A gun firing happens in a fraction of a second, and memories are extremely faulty. He might honestly believe that he didn't pull the trigger.
First hand accounts are extremely unreliable, and need to be taken in context when trying to prove anything in court.
If he can't remember pulling the trigger how does he remember his lines?
Evidence shows he HAD to have pulled the trigger. He lied to dodge the consequences.
Memorizing lines over and over is how he remembers his lines.
Seeing as he's a self-described "expert on firearms and filmmaking" one would think he knew what he was doing (source here).
Maybe he shouldn't have had his finger on the trigger multiple times during that fateful day (same source).
So much for being an expert on firearms or filmmaking.
Because the human brain is weird like that. Half the stuff you think you remember as a kid probably didn't happen exactly how you think it did, and extremely traumatic moments can create false memories very easily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20hyzmP9TPg
It's very common for people to misremember things, especially in situations like that.
He could be lying, but it's just as likely he believes what he's saying.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=20hyzmP9TPg
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.