Di Pietro v. Com.

• Decision Date: 02 January 1976
• Citation: Di Pietro v. Com., 339 N.E.2d 924, 369 Mass. 964 (Mass. 1976)
• Parties: Robert Anthony DI PIETRO v. COMMONWALTH.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 924

339 N.E.2d 924

369 Mass. 964

Robert Anthony DI PIETRO

v.COMMONWALTH.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued Dec. 1, 1975.

Decided Jan. 2, 1976.

Conrad W. Fisher, Worcester (Alfred B. Cenecella, III, Milford, with him) for plaintiff.

James P. Donohue, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Com.

Before QUIRICO, BRAUCHER, KAPLAN and WILKINS, JJ.

RESCRIPT.

These appeals challenge the denial by a single justice of this court of the petitioner's motions to stay execution of sentences pending appeal.The petitioner was convicted, after a jury trial in the Superior Court, of manslaughter and robbery and has been sentenced to long, concurrent terms.These petitions were addressed to the discretion of the single justice.G.L. c. 279, § 4.SeeStranad v. Commonwealth--- Mass. ---, ^a318 N.E.2d 617(1974) and cases cited.There was no abuse of discretion in entering judgments denying the petitions.Where the petitioner has not established a reasonable likelihood of success on appeal, there can be no abuse of discretion in denying a stay of execution of a sentence pending that appeal.In the circumstances, the petitioner has been obliged to argue the merits of his forthcoming appeal on less than the full trial record.Because of that fact, we are reluctant to comment at length on the issues which the petitioner will raise in his appeals and which he has argued to us in support of his requests for stays of execution.However, neither...