Alec Baldwin did as he was told when gun fired, his defense says on Day 2 of his trial

Justin Neal, a sales representative for the company that imports Pietta firearms, said he has not heard of that model of gun misfiring.

Neal said he's taken five to six customer service calls a day since he began working with the company in 2018 and he has "never" received a call about that gun model shooting on its own.

Pietta testified it is not possible to fire the gun Baldwin used on the set of "Rust" without exerting pressure and pulling the trigger.

"This gun cannot fire without pull of trigger because of the mechanics and design of trigger was made to work in this way," Pietta said.

He noted in his testimony that the guns go through quality control at his company by the Italian government's regulatory body and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Those checks include drop tests, Pietta testified.

On redirect, Pietta told Baldwin's attorney that he did not inspect the gun following the "Rust" shooting and did not have knowledge of its condition while it was used on set.

Alessandro Pietta, who manufactures reproductions of collectible firearms, has been called by the state.

Pietta testified that his family made the gun used by Baldwin on the set of "Rust." He noted that the gun was made for a trade show in 2016 or 2017, and Pietta was personally involved in producing the sample.

Johnson questioned him on quality control efforts by his family’s company, to which he responded that, after the company does its own check for defects, the guns go through quality control by the government of Italy.

Gutierrez's attorney, Jason Bowles, accused the state of "hiding the ball" after Baldwin's defense revealed in cross-examination that new evidence was brought to the state after Gutierrez’s trial ended.

"It’s beyond shocking the state didn’t have these live rounds that may match the ones from the 'Rust' set tested, nor even put them in Rust evidence," Bowles told NBC News. "They were hiding the ball until called out on it in trial. If you want to get to the truth, you run down all leads."

The evidence was a box of munitions received by the crime scene technician, Marissa Poppell, earlier this year. Poppell testified that she did not place it with the other "Rust" evidence or have it tested by the FBI.

The special prosecutor redirected Poppell and identified the man who turned the evidence over as a close friend of the armorer's father.

Morrissey identified the person who turned over a box of munition following Gutierrez's trial as a friend of the armorer's father, a widely respected armorer in Hollywood.

On redirect of Poppell, Morrissey confirmed the name of the man who turned over the ammunition. She insinuated the man, a family friend of Gutierrez, had motivation to implicate Seth Kenney, the "Rust" weapon supplier.

Poppell testified she had no evidence that Kenney had anything to do with bringing live rounds to set.

"If you know, is there evidence that Hannah Gutierrez brought the live rounds onto the set of 'Rust?'" Morrissey asked.

"Yes," Poppell said.

Baldwin walked back into the courtroom with what appeared to be a takeout coffee cup in hand, just minutes after he abruptly walked out while the motion hearing was underway.

Spiro engages in a heated back-and-forth with Poppell over ammunition that was brought to her by a "good Samaritan" after the trial of the "Rust" armorer.

Poppell did not put that evidence in with the rest of the "Rust" evidence, and Spiro accused her of suppressing evidence. She also was asked if she ever turned that evidence to the defense, to which she clarified she does not turn any evidence over to the defense.

During this morning's session in court, jurors appeared fresh, alert and engaged in testimony. They were following closely as both Morrissey and Spiro had the floor. Spiro’s method of cross-examination was aggressive compared to his approach yesterday, speaking quickly and keeping the jurors' attention.

Contentious interactions between Morrissey and Spiro also captured the attention of jurors, with the state interrupting with several objections throughout the morning.

Some jurors appeared to have more awareness today of the gallery, at times monitoring who was entering and leaving the courtroom during proceedings. An NBC News producer in court noticed two jurors watching Baldwin's brother Stephen carefully when he entered and exited the courtroom.

Alec Baldwin has abruptly left the courtroom, getting up and walking out as the special prosecutor argues in a motion in front of the judge.

Spiro, his attorney, asked to approach the bench and both sides are conferring with Sommer.

The judge is not allowing a transcript related to a safety bulletin on set, standing by her prior ruling that Baldwin's role as a "Rust" producer is not relevant to the charge.

Morrissey argued that Baldwin's producer status is what allowed him the status to disregard the safety rules on set. Sommers ruling to deny admitting the transcript into evidence is a win for Baldwin's defense team.

Sommer approved a small portion of a transcript that shows Baldwin's statements regarding the danger of guns, a second win for the prosecution in this motion hearing.

The transcript includes a statement Baldwin made regarding the fact that "blanks can kill." Sommer noted that she had previously allowed it to be admitted through a limited scope in witness testimony, but the statement shows Baldwin's knowledge of how dummy bullets can be deadly.

Baldwin was stone-faced while his defense team argued against state motions to admit new evidence to the trial, at one point offering a slight shake of his head.

After Sommer allowed a motion to admit a limited portion of his call with his wife post-shooting, Baldwin hung his head for several moments with his hands together similar to a prayer gesture in front of his face.

Judge Sommer approved the prosecution's motion to include as evidence a phone call between Baldwin, his wife and others at the police station following the shooting.

Morrissey asserted to Sommer that the call in which Baldwin tells his family to still come to New Mexico and that they'd "have fun" contradicts the defense's characterization of Baldwin's state of mind. Baldwin did not know yet of Hutchins' death, but he was aware that she was severely injured, the special prosecutor said.

"And if the defense hasn't spent all of this time saying how, how, how panicked and upset he was, I'm not sure that it would be relevant, but he is actually planning basically a vacation," Morrissey told the judge.

Baldwin's defense fought the motion on multiple points but asserted that the state was trying to make Baldwin appear callous. His attorney also said that Baldwin's demeanor after the gun went off is not relevant to involuntary manslaughter.

"You all made that fact very important through Officer LeFleur yesterday," Sommer said in her ruling. "So, I do find that it's relevant to basically respond to you all talking about how upset Mr Baldwin was, and certainly you considered that fact of consequence."

Before the lunch break, Baldwin's defense team questioned the crime scene technician called by the state regarding the fact that live bullets were mixed in with dummy rounds on the "Rust" set.

Spiro showed photos of the "co-mingled" bullets, attempting to make the case that the untrained eye may find it difficult to tell the difference.

In a similar photo from armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's trial, a single bullet with a silver dot on the bottom of the casing is mixed with bullets that have a more dull gold or bronze dot. The bullet with a silver dot was identified as a live round.

Before the break, Spiro emphasized the limited role Baldwin played in preparing his firearm for the scene during his cross-examination of Poppell.

"There is zero evidence in this case that Alec Baldwin brought a live round on set, correct?" Spiro asked.

"Correct," the crime scene technician said.

"There is zero evidence in this case that Alec Baldwin loaded that live round into that gun, right?" Spiro asked.

"Correct," Poppell responded.

A motion hearing has been set for 1 p.m. MT, which is in just a few minutes, breaking up the court's two-hour lunch break.

The court's public information officer had no details on what motion Sommer will hear or which attorneys filed it.

Judge Sommer adjourned the court for an extended lunch break, asking everyone to reconvene in roughly two hours.

The recess is twice as long as yesterday's lunch break.

Baldwin's defense entered into evidence a document detailing the scene the actor was supposed to film, which included instructions that the thumb "cocks" the firearm.

Poppell photographed the document while law enforcement executed a search warrant on the church where the shooting occurred. Baldwin has insisted that the firearm misfired when he cocked the gun, denying that he ever pulled the trigger.

Prosecutors have said there was no evidence the gun misfired, but Spiro's line of questioning appears to bolster the attorney's case that Baldwin simply did as he was instructed to do as an actor.

Though the courtroom filled back up following a brief recess, both the prosecution and the defense were in discussions with Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.

Prior to the break, the state raised an objection to the defense's line of questioning about what was found in a search of the on-set church where the shooting occurred.

Poppell returned to the stand after a lengthy conversation between attorneys at Sommer's bench.

When evidence was collected on the “Rust” set, live rounds were found mixed with dummy bullets on a prop cart, inside a munition box and in gun holsters for two actors, crime scene technician Marissa Poppell testified.

Led by Baldwin's defense team, Poppell identified the live bullets in photos presented in court. The live rounds appear to have a silver dot at the bottom of the casing rather than a dull 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 responded.

"In other words, somebody could have mistaken one for the other, right?" He continued.

"Yes," she said.

Baldwin's attorney, Alex Spiro, kicks off today with a cross-examination of the crime scene technician for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office called by prosecution yesterday.

Spiro questioned Marissa Poppell on the damage caused by the state's forensic analysis of the gun. Baldwin's defense team tried to have the case dismissed because they were unable to examine the gun but were denied by Judge Sommer.

"As to the firearm, I think where you left off yesterday is ultimately that firearm was destroyed in the testing there," Spiro said.

"Not destroyed, but broken," Poppell responded.

Poppell later agreed that although the gun could likely be fixed with replacement parts, it could not be restored to the condition it was on the day that Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza were shot.

Baldwin is in court for the second day of trial with his family once again seated in the gallery behind him.

His wife, Hilaria, has returned to court along with his brother Stephen and sister Elizabeth Keuchler. Stephen Baldwin is wearing a headset typically used for the hearing impaired.

In yesterday's opening statements, the prosecution painted the "Rust" star as recklessly breaking the cardinal rules of gun safety. His defense pushed back, telling the jury that Baldwin was told by those responsible for safety that the gun was "cold" — or without live ammunition.

New Mexico prosecutors plan to call “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the stand Friday, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Reed, who is serving an 18 month prison sentence has already been transferred to a local Santa Fe jail. The prosecution declined to comment to NBC News on the matter.