Earlier this week, Judge Larry Burns ruled that four days' worth of sealed proceedings surrounding Thomas Kontogiannis' guilty plea in the Duke Cunningham case should be made public. The prosecution in the case, for unspecified reasons, has argued for months that the case proceed in secret. Earlier this month, prosecutors agreed to release portions of certain transcripts -- but still want others to stay under wraps. Burns order just pertains to those portions that prosecutors have agreed to release.

It's unclear when the transcripts will be released. But they'll represent the first disclosures in the case since the court released the fact of his plea in June. And maybe we'll learn the "security reasons" why Kontogiannis wasn't fingerprinted for months.