Wichita ? A Kansas judge ruled Friday that the news media are not entitled to see an affidavit that details what led police to arrest Dennis Rader in the BTK serial murder case.

“The right of the public to know does not extend to the news media, does not extend generally over everything that is occurring in the case,” District Judge Gregory Waller said during a hearing Friday.

Six media organizations, including The Associated Press, sought last month to intervene in the BTK case after nearly all documents in the case were put under court seal. Most of the other documents were subsequently unsealed, except for the probable cause affidavit.

Police and prosecutors have refused to discuss their evidence against Rader, 60, a former Park City compliance officer, who was arrested Feb. 25 and charged in 10 deaths linked to BTK, which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill.”

Since Rader waived his right to a preliminary hearing, prosecutors have not had to present their evidence against him in open court.

Media attorney Lyndon Vix said the BTK murders terrorized Wichita for nearly 30 years and, thus created intense public interest in the Rader case.

“The response to these unique circumstances should not be to take the proceedings into the dark,” Vix said.

“This case, more than any other, must be conducted in a manner that gives the public confidence things are being done right.”

“The notion that a person can be arrested, charged and confined without the state revealing to the public that it has any basis for doing so seems more consistent with an authoritarian state than the United States,” Vix said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin O’Connor said the media is not being excluded from open court proceedings, and prosecutors want to try Rader in court, not through the media. He said the public’s interest is protected by the attorneys and judge, who have “a great deal of experience in trying cases of this nature.”

The defense presented no arguments, other than concurring with the prosecution. Rader did not attend the brief hearing.

In making his ruling from the bench, Waller said the media had speculated on the facts of the case without any attention to the rights of the defendant or the state.

“The only reason the court can see at this point in time to disclose the information is that the media simply has the desire to put forth what they believe are the facts,” Waller said.

In addition to the AP, The Wichita Eagle, the Kansas Press Association and television stations KWCH, KAKE and KSNW sought to have the documents unsealed.

Under Kansas law, probable cause affidavits are automatically kept secret unless the court makes them public. In Rader’s case, Waller placed an additional court seal on the affidavit.

By removing his seal on a document already secret under state law, Waller ruled that the media had no standing to intervene in the case. But he allowed Vix to argue the issue.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys objected to the release of the additional court seal, but both were opposed to making the probable cause affidavit public.

Vix said it is understandable that the information leading to an arrest is kept secret until a suspect is in custody. But he said once the suspect is arrested, other states recognize that “there is no need to keep this important information confidential.”

He said every other state in the country recognized the distinction between secrecy before the arrest and secrecy after the arrest.

“In light of that view across the country, it is fair to ask what would cause the Kansas Legislature to lead a parade of one and depart from that kind of logic that is applied everywhere else,” Vix said.

Waller then asked him: “Could it be that the state of Kansas is far ahead of other jurisdictions?”

“That would be one view, your honor,” Vix replied.