Kern County has spoiled me.

You make a photo request for a defendant and it generally gets approved. Not so in Kings County. A Fresno Bee reporter told me it is rare to get photo requests approved in the Hanford courts.

We tried to get a photo of suspended Maricopa police officer Garry Ferguson at a bail hearing. We submitted it 4 days in advance, but it was rejected without reason.

I learned that just before I entered the courtroom with my camera on Friday. Bailiff said no cameras. I said I'll just put it on the ground and won't open it. He said it had to go in my car, which was parked about 200 yards away.

That would never happen in Kern. Here the court staff trusts the news media. But even if they don't, they can confiscate the camera or throw us in jail for violating an order. Kings County doesn't take the chance.

I asked the bailiff he could keep the camera at his desk during the hearing. Absolutely not, he said.

So I walked the equivalent of a long par-4 hole just as the hearing was about to begin so I could put my camera away.

Then Ferguson walks in dressed in what looks like comic book jail clothes. Broad black and white stripes. A throwback to cartoon images.

This makes me want to say Kings County is a joke, so I will.

Posted by Steve E. Swenson