Why can't we see Jodi Arias? The judge won't say

A Maricopa County judge has essentially denied the public access to the penalty phase of the Jodi Arias trial. That's bad enough. But her reasoning is worse.

Judge Sherry Stephens of Maricopa County Superior Court, trying to avoid the circus atmosphere that surrounded Arias' original trial, had earlier ruled to ban any video from airing until after the jury's verdict. Phoenix TV stations responded with a reasonable compromise: they would not air the trial live but asked the judge to allow them to show clips each evening.

On Monday, Stephens said no.

Why? Well, we really don't know.

"The Court is mindful of its obligation to allow public and media access to the trial," Stephens wrote. "That access should not include live broadcast of the trial prior to a verdict for the reasons addressed in previous sealed proceedings."

To translate: You can't observe the trial, and the judge won't tell you why.

This is contrary to longstanding principles of American justice — and of American democracy.

Self-government requires information. The people cannot hold their leaders or their judges accountable unless they can watch their performance. Courtrooms are open so we can measure whether tax-paid prosecutors and judges are doing their jobs.

Are they zealous in pursuit of justice, or is there a thumb on the scale? We should be able to use every means of modern communication to make that measurement.

This trial won't be completely secret. Reporters will be in the courtroom; they will convey their perceptions of what is said and what they see. They will do a professional job.

But in this era, we have become accustomed to seeing events unfold first-hand. The TV stations offered a reasonable compromise that balanced Arias' fair-trial rights and the public's interest in seeing justice done. The judge should have embraced it instead of slamming the courtroom doors.