According to Esquire, he wrote, “Your Honor. I ask you, please, to spare my family any further embarrassment by letting the press in the courtroom. It has already been hard on us, and I see no point to it.” The request was denied, and the media went in on the Culkin family — an unsettling memory for anyone following the news in the ’90s.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mychalthompson/kieran-culkin-reflected-on-the-dark-side-of-child-acting