COURTROOM RULES AND GUIDELINES:

Trial Court Address: 312 East Cook Street, Santa Maria, CA 93454

Not everyone who wishes to be present during court proceedings may be accommodated within the courtroom. There are a limited number of seats available for the families, press and the general public. Approximately 45 courtroom seats are available to the general public via a lottery drawn daily. The lottery is conducted once per day at 6:30 a.m. on the sidewalk at Miller Street adjacent to the court house. (Click here for the Santa Maria court campus map from the Santa Barbara Superior Court's website.)

Those persons awarded seats must comply with all restrictions in the courtroom. No bags, purses, cameras, cell phones, blackberries or any electronic recording, transmitting, capturing or communicating devices will be allowed in the courtroom. You must familiarize yourself with the Court's decorum orders regarding behaviour in the courtroom. It is your responsibility to know the rules. The links to the decorum orders are to the right.

Only requests from bona fide news organizations will be given consideration for seating in the designated press seats.