STORY: UPSOUND JOHNSON: "The evidence will show that someone who played make-believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety, is the defendant, Alexander Baldwin."

A New Mexico prosecutor on Wednesday accused Hollywood star Alec Baldwin of ignoring safety protocols in the 2021 killing of a cinematographer during rehearsal on the set of the low-budget Western movie "Rust."

"He cocks the hammer, points it straight at Ms. Hutchins, and fires that gun."

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a live round fired from a gun in Baldwin's hand. The bullet also wounded director Joel Souza.

Hutchins's death was Hollywood's first on-set shooting fatality in three decades. The trial is largely unprecedented in U.S. history, holding an actor criminally responsible for a gun death during filming.

Baldwin, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter, has insisted the gun went off on its own, and that his finger was never on the trigger.

UPSOUND SPIRO: "This was an unspeakable tragedy, but Alec Baldwin committed no crime."

Defense attorney Alex Spiro said blame lay with the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, and first assistant director Dave Halls.

SPIRO: "The most critical issue in this case is how a real bullet got on a movie set. [edit] and you will hear no evidence not one word, that Alec Baldwin had anything to do with that real bullet being brought onto that set."

Spiro said during his opening arguments that no one saw Baldwin intentionally pull the trigger, and that it was the responsibility of firearms safety experts to ensure a firearm was safe for an actor to use it as a prop.

"The prop gun was placed in Mr. Baldwin's hands and "cold gun" was announced, meaning it had been checked and double-checked by those responsible to ensure the gun was safe."

Armorer Gutierrez, whose job on the set of "Rust" included managing firearms safely, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March for loading the live round.

Prosecutors will have to persuade jurors that Baldwin is guilty of willful and reckless criminal negligence.