For defense lawyers and prosecutors, sheriff's deputies and judges, democracy can be a messy thing.
These officers of the court, some of whom have stressful jobs, don't always like it when the public or media scrutinizes what they do. A handful might prefer to operate in closed courtrooms, as is common in China and other countries.
But that is not the tradition in the United States. Here, court proceedings are calendared and open to the public, and are only closed in the most extreme of circumstances, such as to protect a vulnerable witness.
And then there's Yolo County. There, a defense lawyer for a dentist accused of fondling patients is asking a judge to bar the media from all trial proceedings, including jury selection, which is scheduled to start this week.
The lawyer, Michael Rothschild, has given no legal reason, compelling or otherwise, for wanting to close the proceedings. Without one, it seems unlikely that Judge Stephen L. Mock would grant the motion.
But the fact that Rothschild would even seek this court closure says much about Yolo County. In recent years, Yolo has shown itself to be indifferent, at best, toward ensuring open courts.
In the current case involving accused dentist Mark Anderson, Rothschild was able to meet privately with Court Commissioner Janene Beronio in October 2007 and obtain a delay in his client's first arraignment.
Then, following the grand jury's indictment, Anderson's next arraignment did not appear on the court's calendar; there was no other form of public notice.
More recently, in June of last year, there was the high-profile incident of Yolo deputies blocking the public and media from attending the arraignment of a suspect accused of killing a Yolo deputy.
Following the June lockout, the presiding Yolo Superior Court judge, David Rosenberg, and other officers pledged to run a more open court.
The closed court sought by Rothschild will be the first major test of that promise. Yolo citizens and the state's top justice officials should be attentive to the outcome.
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