Massachusetts Statutes

Section 26. If a defendant so summoned fails, without reasonable cause, to appear and abide the orders of the court or justice, he shall be considered in contempt of court, and may be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars. A warrant, if necessary, may be issued at an…

Section 27. If a defendant so summoned duly appears, he may be ordered to recognize for his further appearance but shall not be required to give surety upon his recognizance at any stage of the prosecution without a special order.

Section 28. Any officer authorized to serve criminal process may arrest, without a warrant, and detain a person found in the act of stealing property in the presence of the officer regardless of the value of the property stolen and may arrest, without a warrant, and detain a pers…

Section 29. Before a court releases, discharges or admits to bail any person brought before said court, in any criminal matter, the court shall first check the warrant management system to determine whether any warrant has been issued against the person in any jurisdiction of the…

Section 2A. The signature on the warrant may be made by electronic signature. The warrant shall be in substantially the following form: THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. (COUNTY), ss. (NAME) COURT. To the Sheriffs of our several counties, or their deputies, any State Police Offi…

Section 2B. A person seeking a search warrant shall appear personally or through wire or electronic means before a court or justice authorized to issue search warrants in criminal cases and shall give an affidavit in substantially the form hereinafter prescribed. Such affidavit s…

Section 2C. Search warrants issued pursuant to section two hundred and thirteen of chapter ninety-four, sections twenty and twenty-five of chapter one hundred and ten, section ten of chapter one hundred and thirty, shall be issued in the manner provided in sections two, two A and…

Section 2D. (a) A warrant that does not require a law enforcement officer to knock and announce their presence and purpose before forcibly entering a residence shall not be issued except by a judge and only if the affidavit supporting the request for the warrant: (i) establishes …

Section 3. If an officer in the execution of a search warrant finds property or articles therein described, he shall seize and safely keep them, under the direction of the court or justice, so long as necessary to permit them to be produced or used as evidence in any trial. As so…

Section 30. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, whenever a default warrant, issued in any jurisdiction in the commonwealth against any person, is recalled by a court, the court shall assess a fee of fifty dollars against the person in payment of the costs…

Section 31. Whenever a court issues a default warrant solely due to the person's failure to pay a fine, assessment, court cost, restitution, support payment or other amount as ordered by the court or required by law, the court shall specify the amount owed, including an additiona…

Section 32. Whenever a person, brought before a court, against whom an outstanding warrant was issued, solely due to the failure of the person brought before the court to pay a fine assessment, court cost, restitution, support payment, or other amount, the court may accept paymen…

Section 33. Whenever a person is arrested for a crime and is taken to or confined in a jail, police station or lockup, the officer in charge thereof shall immediately examine the prisoner, and if he finds any bruises, cuts or other injuries shall forthwith make a written report t…

Section 33A. The police official in charge of the station or other place of detention having a telephone wherein a person is held in custody, shall permit the use of the telephone, at the expense of the arrested person, for the purpose of allowing the arrested person to communica…

Section 35. The court or justice may adjourn an examination or trial from time to time, and to the same or a different place in the county. In the meantime, if the defendant is charged with a crime that is not bailable, he shall be committed; otherwise, he may recognize in a sum …

Section 36. If the recognizor does not appear according to his recognizance, the court or justice may issue process to bring him into court for trial. After his failure so to appear, the court or justice may at any time order his default recorded; but it may be removed for good c…

Section 37. If the defendant fails to recognize, he may be committed to jail by an order stating concisely that he is committed for further examination on a future day to be named in the order, and on the day named he may be brought before the court or justice by a verbal order t…

Section 37A. If a person is charged with a capital crime and brought before a district court for the initial appearance, the superior court may assign counsel upon his petition and upon certification of the charge to the superior court by the clerk of the district court. The exam…

Section 38. The court or justice before whom a person is taken upon a charge of crime shall, as soon as may be, examine on oath the complainant and the witnesses for the prosecution, in the presence of the defendant, relative to any material matter connected with such charge. Aft…

Section 3A. Every officer to whom a warrant to search is issued shall return the same to the court by which it was issued as soon as it has been served and in any event not later than seven days from the date of issuance thereof, with a return of his doings thereon; provided, how…

Section 4. Before a decree of forfeiture of property seized under a search warrant is issued, the court or justice shall, unless otherwise expressly provided, issue a notice under seal, signed by the clerk of the court or by the justice, setting forth the substance of the complai…

Section 40. The testimony of the witnesses examined shall be reduced to writing by, or under the direction of, the court or justice, if he considers it necessary, and shall, if required by him, be signed by the witnesses.

Section 41. If it appears, upon the whole examination, that no crime has been committed or that there is not probable cause for charging the prisoner therewith, he shall be discharged.

Section 42. If it appears that a crime has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the prisoner guilty, the court or justice shall, if final jurisdiction is not exercised, admit the prisoner to bail, if the crime is bailable and sufficient bail is offered; othe…

Section 42A. Whenever a court issues a criminal complaint and the crime involves assault and battery, trespass, threat to commit a crime, nonsupport, or any other complaint which involves the infliction, or the imminent threat of infliction, of physical harm upon a person by such…

Section 43. If the journey from the town where the prisoner is held to the town where he is to be committed on the service of a mittimus can be made by railroad, the officer may convey the prisoner through any portion of another county in the prosecution of such journey.

Section 44. If the defendant is held to appear before the superior court, the copies and record of proceedings sent to the superior court shall contain the details of all fees and expenses allowed or paid in the district court.

Section 45. If the prisoner is admitted to bail or is committed, the court or justice shall bind by recognizance the material witnesses against the prisoner to appear and testify at the next sitting of the court having jurisdiction of the crime and in which the prisoner is held t…

Section 46. If the examination or trial of a defendant charged with a felony is adjourned under section thirty-five, the court or justice may bind by recognizance the principal witnesses against the prisoner to appear and testify at the time and place to which the trial or examin…

Section 47. The court, if satisfied that there is good cause to believe that a witness will not perform the condition of his recognizance unless other security is given, may order the witness to enter into a recognizance with such sureties as the court deems necessary for his app…

Section 48. If a minor is a material witness, any other person may be allowed to recognize for his appearance; or, in the discretion of the court or justice, he may recognize in a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, which shall be valid and binding in law, notwithstanding his minori…

Section 49. A witness who, when required, refuses to recognize, either with or without sureties, shall, except as provided in the following section, be committed to jail until he complies with such order or is otherwise discharged; but if the court or justice finds that the witne…

Section 5. The notice shall, not less than fourteen days before the time appointed for trial, be served upon the person, if any, alleged to be the owner of the articles seized, by an officer authorized to serve criminal process, by leaving an attested copy thereof with him person…

Section 51. If a witness has been committed because of his inability to furnish sureties for his appearance before the superior court, the jailer shall forthwith give notice to the chief justice of the superior court, who shall direct the district attorney to inquire as to the im…

Section 52. The commissioner of correction shall from time to time make such rules relative to the diet, size of cells, amount of liberty and exercise, correspondence, visits and such other matters as he considers necessary regulating the treatment of witnesses held in jail as wi…

Section 52A. Persons held in jail for trial may, with the approval of the district attorney, and shall, by order of a justice of the superior court, be removed by the commissioner of correction to a jail in another county, and said commissioner shall, at the request of the distri…

Section 53. An officer who, having the custody or control of prisoners, causes or permits male and female prisoners to be transported together to or from a court in a vehicle, in a city of more than thirty thousand inhabitants according to the latest census, shall be punished by …

Section 54. An officer who, having the custody of a witness committed because of his failure to furnish sureties, causes or permits him to be handcuffed to a person, held in custody, charged with or sentenced for crime, or to be transported within a city to or from any court or p…

Section 55. If a person committed to jail is under indictment or complaint for, or is under recognizance to answer to, a charge of assault and battery or other misdemeanor for which he is liable in a civil action, unless the offence was committed by or upon a sheriff or other off…

Section 56. Such order discharging the recognizance, indictment or complaint of the person or the recognizance of witnesses shall be filed in the office of the clerk before the sitting of the court at which they are bound to appear; and such order superseding the commitment of th…

Section 56A. Before a judge of the superior court, district court or Boston municipal court releases, discharges or admits to bail any person arrested and charged with a crime against the person or property of another, the judicial officer shall inquire of the commonwealth as to …

Section 57. A justice of the supreme judicial or superior court, a clerk of courts or the clerk of the superior court for criminal business in the county of Suffolk, a standing or special commissioner appointed by either of said courts or, in the county of Suffolk, by the sheriff…

Section 58. A justice or a clerk or assistant clerk of the district court, a bail commissioner or master in chancery, in accordance with the applicable provisions of section fifty-seven, shall, when a person is held under arrest or committed either with or without a warrant for a…

Section 58A. (1) The commonwealth may move, based on dangerousness, for an order of pretrial detention or release on conditions for a felony offense that has as an element of the offense the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against the person of another or a…

Section 58B. A person who has been released after a hearing pursuant to sections 42A, 58, 58A or 87 and who has violated a condition of his release, shall be subject to a revocation of release and an order of detention. The judicial officer shall enter an order of revocation and …

Section 6. If, at the time appointed for the trial, such notice has not been duly served, or if it appears necessary that any of the articles so seized should be kept longer for the purpose of being produced or used as evidence on any trial, or if other sufficient cause appears, …