Appeals court hears challenge to denial of suppression order in stop the defense says was racially motivated

A three-justice panel of the Appeals Court heard oral argument May 5 in Commonwealth v. Tom, in which the appellant asked the court to reverse a trial judge’s denial of a motion to suppress evidence from a traffic stop the defense says was motivated in part by race.

The appellant, represented by Rebecca Kiley, told the panel that two separate statistical analyses showed Officer Monzon issued traffic citations to Black drivers at a rate far above local benchmarks and the neighborhood adult population, and that the totality of the circumstances corroborated a reasonable inference of racially motivated policing. Kiley told the court, “Mr. Tom is a Black man who presented two distinct and statistically significant analyses that both showed that he was likely stopped by Boston police because of his race.”

Kiley emphasiz…