Commonwealth v. DeBella

We granted the defendant’s application for direct appellate review in order to decide whether the provision of G. L. c. 123A, § 14 (a), requiring that a trial be held within sixty days of the district attorney’s petition to the court for a trial to commit a prisoner as a sexually dangerous person, is to be interpreted as an absolute time limitation, requiring dismissal *684of the case if the trial is not held or formally continued for good cause within that period. General Laws c. 123A, § 14 (a), states in pertinent part: “The district attorney or the attorney general at the request of the…