Principal photography began on December 13 , 1993 . Production took place in San Francisco , California , and Alcatraz Island , in San Francisco Bay , California . The courtroom sequences were filmed first , at Triscenic Production Services Inc. in Los Angeles , California . On January 17 , 1994 , during filming one of the courtroom scenes , filming was interrupted by the 1994 Northridge earthquake . Bacon , who was handcuffed to a large table , took refuge by hiding underneath the table , while an enormous crystal chandelier began to swing overhead ( later , the studio was condemned ) . A week and a half after the quake , filming resumed again . In February , they moved to Alcatraz . Filming there had to be done at night , because the National Park Service did n't want to disrupt daily tourism in the daytime . More than 300 crew members had to be crammed in the prison cells . Production wrapped on March 12 , 1994
1994 Northridge earthquake
1994 Northridge earthquake
Murder in the First (film)