Commonwealth v. Kalila

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of the defendant's motion to stay execution of his sentence pending appeal, holding that the single justice did not abuse his discretion in finding both a reasonable possibility of appellate success and an unacceptable security risk. Although the trial judge improperly speculated that the defendant was accumulating funds to flee based on employment, bail, travel, and private counsel, the single justice relied on permissible considerations that independently supported the security-risk finding. The court also held that the pandemic-related third factor did not alter the traditional two-factor stay analysis and that the single justice's independent review was reasonable.