OK — open season on what in the Sam Hill is going on up in the Kevin Geddings trial. Funny business does not begin to explain this:

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Kevin Geddings case are asking Judge James C. Dever III to a hold a hearing outside the view of the public.

Neither side would discuss the topic of the proposed closed hearing. But in a surprise hearing late Tuesday, they gave hints about it.

“It may tend to expose normal parties to extreme embarrassment,” said John Bruce, an assistant U.S. attorney.

“My concern is just the potential prejudice to the trial about matters that are not relevant,” seconded Tom Manning, one of Geddings’ attorneys.

Dever said he would research the issue before court reconvenes at 9 a.m. Wednesday. “The court obviously has to be careful with the rights of the defendant, the rights of the government, the rights of any witnesses and the rights of the public in connection with any trial,” he said.

Few people attended the hearing late Tuesday because it was unannounced. Among those few was Ken Bell, an attorney for House Speaker Jim Black, a Matthews Democrat who is a potential witness in the case and who appeared at the courthouse Tuesday.

Bell said he did not know if the closed hearing would relate to his client. “I just figured I’d be here as long as court was open,” he said.

Both sides want a secret hearing and Jim Black’s lawyer just happens to be there?

Look, we are far, far removed from the inner circle of the Down East kleptocracy, but this wrinkle just happens to pop up after Gov. Mike Whatshisname shows up to testify and then basically runs from the courtroom claiming he knows nothing are the case? Yeah, those former state AGs, they go all to pieces at trial.

This thing is starting to smell to high heaven. The case is all about public trust in the government — even the Uptown paper of record gets that — and a sudden secret hearing does not restore trust.

Judge Dever would do well to keep the harsh light of sunshine on all participants in what is not so much a criminal trial, but an attempt to re-establish the social contract between the government and the governed in the great state of North Carolina.