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On April 22 the Sun-Times and Tribune jointly filed an emergency motion asking Gaughan to let them in on what’s going on. “The public has a nearly absolute right of access to Court records and proceedings,” the papers argued, and “absent specific factual findings that demonstrate in each instance how secrecy serves a compelling interest overriding the essential right to access and that no other less restrictive alternative is available, public access cannot be denied.” All in due time, Gaughan replied. At a hearing Thursday he refused to treat the motion as an emergency and set arguments on it for May 8. Jury selection in the Kelly trial is scheduled to begin the next day.
Maybe there’s something in the water at the Times. Last August its enraptured account of Kelly’s video series Trapped in the Closet called him “the funniest pop star on the planet” and noted his legal troubles only parenthetically to explain why he didn’t sit for an interview.
