A Kootenai County magistrate judge released the transcript of the preliminary hearing for a 15-year-old boy charged with two counts of murder after Spokane television station KHQ challenged the judge’s decision to bar the public and media from the hearing and withhold the written account of the proceedings. Magistrate Clark A. Peterson last April closed the hearing for Eldon Samuel III after the boy’s public defender argued that sensitive information disclosed at the hearing could prejudice his right to a fair trial and affect his chances for rehabilitation. Peterson said hearings for juveniles don’t share the same legal expectation for openness as hearings for adults/Scott Maben, SR. More here.

DFO: H/T to KHQ for challenging Magistrate Clark A. Peterson's decision to bar public and media from hearing & written information afterward in the Samuel Samuel III murder case. Thoughts?