When public officials are accused of wrongdoing, courts should handle their cases with maximum transparency. On Monday, a Suffolk clerk magistrate did the opposite by sealing details of the state attorney general’s corruption charges against former probation commissioner John J. O’Brien.

An attorney for O’Brien’s codefendant persuaded the court to impound the prosecution's “statement of the case,’’ which includes details on the allegation that O’Brien conspired to get his wife a job at the state Lottery in exchange for hosting a 2005 fundraiser for former Treasurer Tim Cahill. O’Brien faces charges of campaign finance violations in addition to bribery.

The type of document at the center of this controversy is routinely treated as a public record. Exceptions are made, such as cases where the filing reveals intimate secrets of no public value. But in this case,the defense’s claim appears to be based on concerns that pretrial publicity would undermine the defendants’ right to a fair trial. That argument doesn’t resonate. Impartial juries are seated routinely in cases far more sensational than this one. And judges caution juries to focus on evidence submitted at trial, not what they have seen in the media.

On Wednesday, the Globe initiated legal action in Superior Court to release the information. The sealing of this document is especially offensive because of the nature of the allegations against O’Brien, who is also the subject of a federal investigation into hiring abuses and patronage in the probation department. The public has a compelling interest in knowing the details of a case that speaks to the integrity of the political process and the operations of a large public agency. The clerk magistrate erred in plunging this case into darkness.

It required intensive media scrutiny and an independent investigation ordered by the Supreme Judicial Court to shine some light on O’Brien’s shadowy operation. The root of the problem was a lack of sunshine. Why, then, would the court suddenly turn around and draw the blinds?