Appearing in court, place will be distressed (5)
I believe the answer is:
upset
'distressed' is the definition.
(I know that distressed can be written as upset)
'appearing in court place' is the wordplay.
'appearing in court' becomes 'up' (I've seen this in other clues).
'place' becomes 'set' (synonyms).
'up'+'set'='UPSET'
'will be' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for upset that I've seen before include "Upheaval" , "Spilt - annoyed" , "'Disturbed, agitated (5)'" , "Disrupted; knock over" , "Disturb the balance or stability of" .)