LAS VEGAS (AP) — A group of journalists has been detained inside a Las Vegas courtroom by a court officer after a brief hearing involving Michael Jackson's personal physician.

Reporters, videographers and producers were blocked from leaving the courtroom for several minutes Monday while Dr. Conrad Murray and his lawyers were hustled from the Clark County Family Court building.

An armed, uniformed court officer was asked several times by the journalists to let them leave. He politely declined, saying he was following orders.

Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer says he didn't know why court security officers blocked the journalists from leaving, but said it might have been to maintain safety and decorum.

Murray was in court to answer charges that he failed to make child support payments to a California woman and her son.