Mumbai, Nov 28 (IANS): Actor Alec Baldwin has sought legal help by hiring a former Assistant US Attorney over the shooting tragedy on the sets of his Western movie 'Rust', which resulted in the death of the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and left the director Joel Souza injured.

Former Assistant US Attorney Aaron S. Dyer will be leading the defence team at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

The fateful incident happened on October 21 when Baldwin mistakenly fired an open round, after he was told that the prop gun was safe to use. It has since then attracted two lawsuits against Baldwin, the 'Rust' movie production and several other production companies involved in the film.

The first lawsuit was filed by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, who said she suffered "physical and emotional injuries" when Baldwin shot the film's cinematographer.

The second lawsuit filed by Gaffer Serge Svetnoy came shortly after, when Serge claimed that he was in close proximity to Baldwin when the said incident happened which caused him emotional and physical harm.

Aaron S. Dyer has taken the onus of defending Baldwin and the production companies. The former Assistant US Attorney is known for defending 'Girls Gone Wild' creator Joe Francis, after he was charged with racketeering and child pornography. Dyer also defended astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who punched a conspiracy theorist when the latter said that the moon landing was faked.

While the two lawsuits have been filed by key members of the 'Rust' crew, Hutchins' family has not filed a lawsuit, so far.

Brian Panish of Panish, Shea, Boyle and Ravipudi, who is the attorney of Halyna's husband and son, told the Daily Journal legal publication that the family is still grieving the loss of their loved one and that the firm is conducting an "intensive investigation of the facts".