SANTA MARIA - Fencing has been set up for a high-profile murder trial involving an alleged gang leader at the Santa Maria Courthouse.
Typically handcuffs are used to restrain defendants inside the court, and not used to lock up temporary fencing outside the court.
But that is the scene at the Santa Maria courthouse.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department has erected covered fencing outside one of the main courtrooms being used for a high-profile gang-related murder trial.
The accused is reputed gang member and leader Alejandro Carrillo.
His alleged victim is Pedro Gonzales who's body was found dumped in a Santa Maria Valley broccoli field two years ago.
The Sheriff's Department is taking extra precautions including the fencing during the Carrillo trial.
"The Sheriff's Department is in charge of security, they are the designated security officers for the Superior court", says Santa Maria Court Administrator Darrell Parker, "they've taken precautionary measures that they feel are necessary in order to ensure the safety of the litigants and all the participants in the court system."
The last time the Santa Maria Courthouse saw similar fencing was for the child molestation trial of the late pop icon Michael Jackson.
However the Carrillo trial is a far cry from the public spectacle that became the Jackson trial that was several years ago.
"We've spoken about our long term plan to close the entire campus", Parker says about the courthouse campus in Santa Maria, "this is a temporary matter for a five week trial, its really no more inconvenient than that."
The Carrillo trial is expected to finish by the end of September or early October.
