Defense attorneys are asking Massachusetts' highest court to close the hearings scheduled for people suspected of buying sex from an alleged prostitution ring run out of luxury apartments in Cambridge and Watertown.
In court filings Monday, attorneys for some of the 28 unnamed individuals said the clerk magistrate hearings in Cambridge District Court should not be open to the public.
The attorneys wrote "the accused are entitled to privacy at this early stage in the proceedings, and public hearings should remain the exception rather than the rule. Those accused have not been publicly identified and were scheduled to appear at "show cause" hearings before a clerk magistrate last week to determine if criminal charges would be filed against them.
A clerk magistrate had ruled that the hearings, which are typically held behind closed doors, would be open because of a "legitimate public interest.
The hearings were originally scheduled to begin last week but were postponed after WBUR and The Boston Globe asked the court for access to the documents supporting the potential charges. When the clerk magistrate refused, the matter went to a single justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court.
