When two reporters from The Augusta Chronicle appeared at Richmond County Superior Court on Wednesday morning, they were told no one was allowed to enter at the order of Chief Judge William M. Fleming Jr.

Judge Fleming is assigned to the death-penalty trials of David Joseph Easterling and two other men accused of committing the Feb. 2, 1998, robbery and slayings of Frederick and Yong-Suk Walker in the couple's Evans home.

In addition, Mr. Easterling faced trial in Richmond County Superior Court in the June 21, 1998, kidnapping and slaying of Sam's Club manager David Holt.

On Wednesday morning, however, Mr. Easterling entered a formal plea agreement: For pleading guilty to two counts of felony murder in the Walker case and pleading guilty to kidnapping with bodily injuries in the Holt case, Mr. Easterling was given two consecutive life sentences. In exchange, he agreed to testify against his former co-defendants.

After the hearing, defense attorneys Peter Johnson and Pete Theodocion and District Attorney Danny Craig each said they had no idea the hearing had been closed to the public.

Bailiffs reported that Judge Fleming had instructed them to close the courtroom because people entering and leaving were making too much noise.

While some members of the public - and family members of Mr. Holt and the Walkers were present, having received word Tuesday night of the sentencing hearing - reporters from The Chronicle were not allowed to enter the courtroom before the hearing began.

Judge Fleming did not return a reporter's phone call Wednesday. However, the judge did speak to Suzanne Downing, the editorial page editor of The Chronicle, who was considering an editorial about the closed hearing.

``(Judge Fleming) said that Danny Craig requested that the hearing be closed, that (the prosecuting and defense attorneys) both asked for the hearing to be closed,'' Ms. Downing said.

Attorney James B. Ellington, whose law firm represents The Chronicle, said Wednesday the presumption in Georgia is that criminal cases are conducted in public, and that the procedure to close court hearings is clear: A motion must be filed with the clerk's office at least 24 hours before such a court proceeding.

Mr. Ellington referred to a 1982 Georgia Supreme Court case that sets the standard. The state's highest court ruled that not only must a motion be filed 24 hours in advance, but also the motion must be supported by ``clear and convincing proof'' that nothing short of closing a hearing could protect the interests of justice, and that such an argument must be made in open court.

No notice of Wednesday's hearing was filed in the Superior Court clerk offices in Richmond or Columbia counties, nor was a motion to close the hearing filed in either office, according to court records.