The court is taking a break, and so we're going to pause our live coverage of Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial for the day.

We have a full look at today's events in court here, and we will bring you more on this story as it develops.

Thank you for joining us today and be sure to return to the BBC for additional news as it comes.

Emma Vardy and Samantha Granville reported from court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with contributions from Nadine Yousif, Christal Hayes, Aoife Walsh and Joe McFadden. The page was edited by Christal Hayes and Phil McCausland.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Alec Baldwin’s criminal trial is now in full swing.

During opening statements the prosecution attempted to paint the actor as a reckless weapons handler who played "make-believe with a real gun".

That carelessness led to the death of Halyna Hutchins, the film's cinematographer, the lead prosecutor said.

The defence team stressed that Baldwin is an actor, and he was relying on weapons experts to ensure the safety of the set. Alex Spiro, a defence attorney, alleged that his client had been told that the gun was cold, which meant it had gone through the necessary safety checks.

The state has so far called two law enforcement witnesses:

1. Officer Nicholas Lefleur - a responding officer from the sheriff's department who admitted to mishandlings in the initial response.
2. Former police Lt. Timoteo Benavidez - another law enforcement officer who responded said it was the largest crime scene he’s ever been to. During questioning he was handed a box of evidence and identified the weapon from the shooting.

Over the next several days we will continue to hear from witnesses involved in the shooting and its aftermath.

We are expecting to hear testimony from Joel Souza - the film's director who was injured in the shooting incident - and David Halls - the film's assistant director who was in charge of safety and pleaded "no contest" to negligent use of a deadly weapon.

We still don’t know if the prosecution will call Hannah Gutierrez Reed to the stand, or if the defence will allow Alec Baldwin to take the stand.

Tim Benavidez is handed a box, which he opens carefully while wearing gloves.

Inside is a gun that he says was handed to him by Hannah Gutierrez Reed on the day of the shooting. It is a small pistol gun with a brown handle.

He says that after he was handed the gun, he stowed it away on the passenger side of his patrol vehicle and locked it.

“It was the most secure spot that I had control over at the time,” he explains.

Prosecutors ask him why he didn’t put the gun in an evidence bag.

He responds by saying the scene was “so active” and he put it in a place where he thought it would be safe.

Benavidez says he then opened up the cylinder to make sure there were no rounds left in it, which there weren't.

Prosecutors have called their next witness to the stand, Timoteo Benavidez.

At the time of the shooting, Benavidez was a lieutenant at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. He has since retired.

He recalls how he received a service call that day for an “accidental shooting” at a movie set at around 13:50 local time (20:50 BST) that day, and he had arrived about 30 minutes later.

He says that when he arrived, there was a security guard at the gate who drove them into the movie set where the shooting happened. He says Nicholas Lafleur - the first witness - was already on scene, and another law enforcement officer was there as well.

“There were already medics on scene when I arrived,” he adds.

He, too, was wearing a body camera that recorded his response. A video of what he captured is then played for the jury.

Prosecutors are now asking Nicholas Lafleur a second round of questions, after the defence team finished its inital cross examination.

Kari Morrissey starts by attempting to dispell what the defence said earlier, which is that Lafleur had spoken to prosecutors attempted to “coach” him before he testified.

She then refers to questions that Alec Baldwin's lawyers had asked earlier about the actor's intentions around the crime of involuntary manslaughter - which is the charge he is facing.

Baldwin's lawyer attempted to stress that the shooting was unintentional during cross examination, and framed it as a tragic accident.

“Is involuntary manslaughter an intentional homicide?” Morrissey asks Lafleur.

“No, ma’am,” Lafleur responds.

The courtroom proceedings have officially resumed. The jury is now listening to a 911 call made on the day Halyna Hutchins was shot - a piece of evidence introduced by Alec Baldwin's defence team.

In it, the caller asks for an ambulance to be dispatched immediately because two people were shot “accidentally”.

The caller repeats the word “accidentally” several times in the call, which was played by the defence for the first witness, Nicholas Lafleur, a police officer who responded to the scene.

Alex Spiro, Baldwin's lawyer, asks the witness if anyone mentions the actor at all during the call, to which Lafleur responds "no".

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Here is a quick recap in case you're just joining us.

The court is about to hear the continued cross examination of Officer Nicholas LeFleur of the Santa Fe County Police Department. He is the first witness to take the stand for the state.

He worked at the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office the day of the "Rust" shooting and was deployed to the scene because he was one of the officers nearest to the Bonanza Creek Ranch.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey went through a play-by play of Lefleur's body cam footage for the day, which showed Halyna Hutchins on the ground during some of her last moments alive.

The body cam footage also showed members of the film crew gathered around Mr Baldwin, shortly after the shooting, talking about what happened and giving him updates on Halyna and Joel’s condition.

Morrissey continued to point out the fact that LeFleur did not separate the witnesses and allowed them to confer with each other and exchange stories about how the shooting happened.

The prosecutor appears to be getting ahead of the defence, which will likely allege that there were errors in processing the scene. She also likely wants to paint Baldwin as someone who was not listening to the officer's instructions.

During cross examination, Baldwin's attorney Alex Spriro pointed out that nothing in the video was unusual for the scene of an accident. He argued that if it were an intentional crime, the cast and crew would not have been offering support or compassion to Mr Baldwin.

His point is that there is not any indication of a purposeful act of violence and that Baldwin and others acted as most people would after a terrible accident.

Alec Baldwin and his lawyers have returned to the defence table, and prosecutors are in the courtroom again as well.

It appears that the court proceedings are about to restart after an afternoon lunch break.

Alex Sprio, who is representing Baldwin, will go back to his cross examination of Nicholas Lafleur - an officer who responded to the scene of the shooting on the Rust film set.

Before the break, the court was hearing from Nicholas Lefleur - one of the officers who responded to the scene after the shooting.

The jury watched Lefleur's body camera footage from the set of the film, and Alec Baldwin - who is dressed as a cowboy - could be be seen interacting with others on set.

Some of that footage is included in the video above, as well as other clips of police and medics racing to the scene and moments from the film armourer's trial.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

The judge has just called for an early lunch break, meaning court is now on recess.

The hearing should resume in about an hour if everything goes according to schedule.

At the lunch break, Alec Baldwin sped out of the courtroom with Hilaria - his wife - trailing behind.

He went straight to the restroom while Hilaria waited with his sister, Elizabeth Keuchler, in the hallway.

They just walked past me again, Baldwin remaining several paces ahead of his wife, before entering an unused chamber.

It appears unlikely that they will leave the courthouse during the break.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Image source, EPA

Alec Baldwin has scooted his chair a bit so he can see the witness around his attorney Alex Spiro who is doing the cross.

The actor is leaning very far forward on the defence table, and appears much more engaged than during the prosecutions turn.

Spiro asks Officer Nicholas Lefleur if he has ever seen a witness or suspect wait patiently and respectfully as a homicide is taking place and being investigated.

Lefleur says, “no.”

Spiro also notes how people on set were checking up on Baldwin following the shooting.

"Have you ever seen that in all your experience? Somebody commits a homicide, and everyone around the scene circling the person, shaking his hand and talking to him about what happened?” Spiro asks.

Again, Lafleur responds with a "no".

Hilaria Baldwin - the actor's wife - appears unmoved where she is seated, just a few feet behind her husband.

Prosecutors have just spent some time going through Nicholas Lafleur's body camera footage, zooming in at parts on what Alec Baldwin was doing in the moments after Halyna Hutchins was shot.

Lafleur is now being cross examined by Baldwin's lawyer, who asks him whether Baldwin looked shaken up and unsure of where to go after he was being detained.

He also asks him whether Baldwin asked how Hutchins was doing after she was shot, to which Lafleur responds with a simple "yes."

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Since we’ve returned from recess there has been a court officer sitting with his back to Alec Baldwin.

It is a younger guard now. It appears his duty is to secure the swinging doors that divide off the public and media from those involved in the case.

The officer's eyes are scanning the room for any abrupt movements, presumably to stop an unauthorised person from getting close to Baldwin and the trial's attorneys.

Baldwin has not had personal security at the courthouse this week.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Officer Lefleur is the first witness Kari Morrissey called during the trial for Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

We are watching the same footage of his lapel video when he arrived on scene.

Many members of the media here also watched this footage during the Hannah Gutierrez Reed trial, and it does not get easier to see Halyna and Joel yelling on the ground.

There are heavy sighs, and a lot of people can’t watch the footage playing on all the TV screens.

These are some of Halyna’s last moments.

Alec Baldwin is sitting watching with his arms crossed. He’s visibly uncomfortable in his chair leaning back and forward, back and forward. His face grimaces when Halyna comes up on screen. He covered his face at some moments, crossing his arms at others.

Nadine Yousif
BBC News

The trial has just resumed after a short break, and prosecutors called their first witness to the stand.

His name is Nicholas Lefleur, a police officer with the Santa Fe Police Department who used to work at the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. He was one of the officers who responded the day of the shooting.

Lefleur is asked whether he was on duty the day Halyna Hutchins was killed. He says yes.

"A call came in that there was someone shot at a movie set, unclear who was shot, how many were shot," he says.

"I happened to be the closest person to the call and arrived on scene first."

Image source, Reuters

Another crew member on the set of Rust has already been tried in the death of Halyna Hutchins.

The film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.

The 26-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison -- the same sentence Baldwin is facing in his trial.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

A member of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s legal team is in court watching the trial.

There was some pretrial drama regarding her and whether she would testify or not.

She’s currently listed as witness for the state - the same people that led the prosecution against her a few months ago.

However, during pre-trial interviews, she kept pleading the fifth and her attorneys said she would do so again on the stand.

Prosecutors tried to give her use immunity to compel her to testify, but it was denied by the judge in June.

Use immunity protects the witness from the use of their own testimony against them. Anything she says cannot change her conviction or sentencing, but she’s currently facing other gun-related charges that she wants to protect herself from.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

Alec Baldwin and his legal team walked out of the chambers for a short break. He’s walking somberly and hunched over, almost as if he has a limp.

Hilaria and his brother, Stephen Baldwin, are here.

Following him out of court was another relative who was wiping her eyes.

Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

While we wait, here is some context around this case, what it means - and the impact it's already had on Baldwin's career.

When a Hollywood A-lister finds themselves in a courtroom, it is guaranteed to make headlines.

In the US, it is even more of a spectacle because of the live streaming of many court cases, allowing audiences to view the drama unfolding.

Last year. Robert De Niro and Gwyneth Paltrow were among the well-known faces seen in court for cases involving financial damages.

It is always a risky business, as regardless of the outcome a celebrity's personal and professional reputation is also on the line.

But this case is about a lot more than finances. Alec Baldwin’s trial is a criminal matter and it has already cost him personally.

He has said in recent court documents that he has struggled to find acting work since the tragedy. If found guilty, he could face 18 months behind bars.

At the heart of this, too, is a grieving family. The film Rust was eventually completed as a tribute to Halyna Hutchins.

But her family have always said they would like to get to the truth of who was responsible.

Nadine Yousif
BBC News

The defence has just concluded their opening remarks and the court is now on a short break.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest when the hearing resumes.

A reminder that you can click the play button above to watch along.