From The Denver Post: The preliminary hearing last January for accused mass shooter James Holmes was quite the production.

Over the course of 2½ days, prosecutors presented more than a dozen witnesses and scores of items of evidence.

All in open court.

Now there is a request in the case to deny the release of transcripts of proceedings that took place in open court.

The efforts to impose secrecy in this case have reached an absurd level.

The latest fracas comes as some victims in the case, who are suing the owners of the theater where Holmes allegedly opened fire and killed 12 people, seek transcripts from the preliminary hearing so they may pursue a civil case.

They also want access to exhibits presented in the preliminary hearing, the purpose of which was to show there was enough evidence to proceed with the case. Those exhibits were ordered sealed.

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