Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' Manslaughter Trial Begins with Opening Statements

9:24 AM PT -- Opening statements are done ... court is breaking until 9:40 AM PT.

9:15 AM PT -- Alex Spiro finishes his opening statement by saying the prosecutors need to prove this death was foreseeable ... and Spiro says it simply wasn't.

9:10 AM PT -- Spiro's honing in on the broken firearm ... saying now no one can test the gun in the condition it was in when Halyna Hutchins was shot since law enforcement broke it during testing.

8:52 AM PT -- Alec Baldwin's defense team plays the 911 emergency call for the court. Spiro highlights how the caller says the shooting was accidental and blames AD David Halls.

8:50 AM PT -- Spiro makes a point of claiming "cold gun" -- meaning a gun loaded with nothing, not even blanks -- was yelled out on set ... putting the crew at ease.

8:40 AM PT -- Spiro's playing the footage from from "Rust" rehearsal in the church where Halyna Hutchins was shot ... making a point that Baldwin was acting, getting in character. The crew asks him to pull the gun out twice in the clip.

8:38 AM PT -- Alec's attorney, Alex Spiro, begins his opening statement ...saying Baldwin was an actor on a movie set -- and, real bullets never should've been anywhere near a movie set. Spiro says armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed loaded the gun, putting the blame at her feet.

8:17 AM PT -- Special Prosecutor Johnson promises to provide multiple witnesses who will testify the gun Alec used was allegedly in perfect condition. Baldwin, of course, has maintained the gun went off without him squeezing the trigger.

8:13 AM PT -- Special Prosecutor Erlinda O. Johnson has begun her opening statement ... claiming Alec played "make-believe with a real gun" and put people's lives in danger by regularly disregarding firearm safety.

8:10 AM PT -- Alec's actor brother Stephen Baldwin and Alec's wife Hilaria Baldwin are sitting behind him, showing their support during the judge's instructions to jurors.

7:50 AM PT -- Baldwin has arrived, sitting at the defense table with arms crossed as he prepares for court to come to order.

Alec Baldwin's manslaughter trial is now in full swing, with his defense team and the prosecution about to deliver opening statements -- and we'll be live streaming the proceedings.

The "Rust" actor's legal team will lay out their defense Wednesday in the Sante Fe County Courthouse in New Mexico ... and we expect they'll begin making their case for why it wasn't Alec's job as an actor to make sure there wasn't live ammunition in his gun.

Prosecutors have argued Alec was criminally negligent with firearms on the movie set.

As we told you ... Alec's team secured a big legal victory Monday, the day before the jury selection -- with the judge ruling the prosecution couldn't use evidence related to Alec's role as a producer to make their case.

The state can argue Alec pointing the gun at cinematographer Hutchins without checking the chamber for a real bullet was reckless ... but, remember armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has already been found guilty of manslaughter based on her failure to ensure the gun didn't have any live ammo.

Baldwin claims he did not pull the trigger on the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins back in 2021 ... instead, he says he pulled back the hammer and the revolver fired without having the trigger pulled.

Footage from set during other days of filming for the movie shows Baldwin directing the crew ... coaching them on safety including telling one crew member to move to the other side of the camera so he's not shooting toward them.

Prosecutors originally charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023 before they dropped the case three months later. They re-filed the case once again earlier this year.

The trial is expected to continue into at least next week. The defense hasn't said yet if Baldwin will testify.