At a sitting of the court at which criminal business may be transacted, cases arising under chapters one hundred and nineteen, two hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and thirty-eight, one hundred and thirty-nine and two hundred and seventy-three shall have precedence in the order in which said chapters are herein named, next after the cases of persons who are actually confined in prison and awaiting trial; provided, that the court, on motion of the district attorney, may order that the trial of any specified case of crime shall take precedence over all other cases.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 212, § 24