Judge Terry Ruckriegle made the right ruling today in the Kobe Bryant case. He denied a prosecution request to have both parties file all motions pertaining to evidence in the case under seal. We wrote a few weeks ago when the DA filed the motion,

The prosecution is seeking to have all future pleadings in the case that refer to evidence in the case filed under seal. This is wrong, and there is a much fairer way to accomplish the goal. Each side should file two versions of any pleading containing information that shoud not be made public--one of which is the entire pleading, filed under seal, and the other is a redacted version for the public, with just the sensitive material deleted and so noted. This was done in the Oklahoma bombing trials and it worked well.

To seal all evidentiary pleadings in their entirety is contrary to the public's right to know and the First Amendment.

That's exactly what the Judge ordered today:

...Judge Terry Ruckriegle said, attorneys in the case can file motions about Bryant and his accuser that leave sensitive details to be filed separately under seal. The judge urged attorneys to make sealed filings "sparingly and wisely" and he chided the prosecution for citing "no legal authority" to seal all details of evidence.

In other Kobe news, the defense filed a motion today asking the Court to order the DA to investigate whether any "hangman t-shirts" were ordered by the Sheriff's department, and if so, how many. Kobe attorney Pamela Mackey stated in the motion that the Sheriff's office refused to supply the information to the defense, and that the information is relevant to show the bias of the investigating agencies. She also stated that the t-shirts had been described as "racist and 'invocative of Klan lynching and wholly inappropriate in modern society."