The Lawrence County District Attorney's Office and District Judge James Reed obviously don't have much confidence in the news media's ability to exercise proper professional judgment in the reporting of sensitive cases.

But while displaying such an opinion at a preliminary hearing last week for Jerry Valecko, 43, a convicted, repeat pedophile from Butler County, both also assaulted the public's right to be represented at a proceeding that the public had a legal right to attend.

From Valecko's perspective, the actions by a Lawrence County assistant district attorney and Reed also retracted the defendant's right to an open hearing to ensure that his rights, as well as the rights of the alleged victim, were properly maintained throughout the proceeding.

It also would seem that Reed overstepped his authority when he closed the hearing. A district judge's office is not legally considered a court of record.

Already, one Lawrence County judge has agreed to provide media with a transcript of the hearing, due to the controversy surrounding the proceeding.

When reporters objected to Reed's plan to close the hearing, Reed should have opted to continue the proceeding, and a hearing on the objection should have been scheduled before the Lawrence County president judge.

A president judge presides over all court proceedings in his or her county and, in this instance, President Judge Dominick Motto, not Reed, should have made the ruling about whether the hearing would be open or closed.

It was Lawrence County Assistant District Attorney James Papa who actually made the request Tuesday that all "non-essential" people be barred from the Valecko hearing. Later, Lawrence County District Attorney Matt Mangino said prosecutors had a right to make such a request "to protect the victim."

He said case law in this state supports the position.

"We can request that and we did," Mangino said.

However, there were ways that the victim's name could have been shielded without closing the hearing, and Motto should be as concerned as the general public that he wasn't consulted about the closed-hearing objections prior to the hearing being held - because it was an affront to his authority.

Residents of Lawrence County, as well as Butler County, are intensely interested in legal developments regarding Valecko. Valecko, a former Center Township youth baseball coach, already is serving a 4- to 8-year prison sentence for fondling five boys in Butler County. During his sexually violent predator assessment, Valecko reportedly said he also assaulted at least six more victims who never came forward.

Tuesday's hearing centered on the assault of an 11-year-old Ellwood City boy Valecko met while awaiting sentencing in Butler County. Present to attend the hearing were a television reporter and newspaper reporters from Butler, Beaver and Lawrence counties.

When the reporters objected to the closing of the hearing, they were ushered from the room by deputy sheriffs. Reed denied a request by the reporters to delay the hearing until the reporters could get in touch with their lawyers.

That the closed-hearing issue was not permitted to be decided after an official consideration of objections is a troubling reflection on the Lawrence County criminal justice system.

There is no cause for sympathy for Valecko in regard to his current plight. If found guilty in the case involving the Ellwood City boy, he should not be handed a sentence of compassion.

But all proceedings involving his alleged crimes, and that will impact his future, should be open for the public and the media to witness.