S.F. public defender detained outside court, office outraged A San Francisco deputy public defender was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at the Hall of Justice after she asked why city police officers were questioning her client outside a courtroom, the public defender’s office said Wednesday.

It’s stories like these that remind me why courtroom beat reporters are vital to every news organization. In this age of cutbacks, having a reporter in the courthouse (like San Francisco Chronicle’s Vivian Ho does) means the difference between publicizing a compelling and important story versus just running a brief lacking context, sourced from a stringer or local wire.