Are there exceptions to the general rule of open court proceedings?
Yes those exceptions are: • Commitment hearings. The N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled that there is no right of access to involuntary civil commitment proceedings. However commitment hearings for people found guilty by reason of insanity in criminal cases are public and must be held in the court where the original trial took place. • Conference Any bench conference between judges and lawyers, conferences between lawyer and their clients are not intended for the public. • Grand jury proceedings. Federal and state law requires that grand jury proceedings be conducted in private. It is also a crime for a grand juror to release information that is presented to a grand jury. It is not a crime for a news organization to publish the information. • Juvenile proceedings. Once closed as a matter of public policy juvenile proceedings are now presumptively open to the public and the court must find “good cause” to close a proceeding. No proceeding can be closed if the juvenile requests that it be o
