The hearing for Southcoast President and CEO Keith Hovan on a potential felony charge of possessing illegal firearm magazines will remain closed to the public, a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice has ruled.

As a result of this ruling, issued Friday by Justice Scott L. Kakfer, the public and press will not be allowed to attend Hovan’s hearing in Wareham District Court. 

At that hearing, a clerk magistrate will determine whether there is probable cause to charge Hovan with the felony offense. 

The New Bedford Light, a non-profit media outlet that launched in June of 2021, had asked that the magistrate's hearing be open to the public and the press.

The hearing before a magistrate concerns more than 80 allegedly illegal high-capacity firearms feeding devices found at Hovan's Rochester home in November after police responded to a 911 call about a domestic dispute.

Charges stemming from the dispute were dropped when the alleged victim declined to testify.

Click here to read The New Bedford Light story.