Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
This domain tests Massachusetts offenses and the limits on how you arrest, search, seize, and question. Massachusetts applies Article 14 of its Declaration of Rights, which is often more protective than the Fourth Amendment.
Offenses to know cold
- Assault and battery, M.G.L. c. 265 § 13A; aggravated A&B under § 13A(b) requires serious injury or a dangerous weapon; A&B on a police officer, § 13D; domestic A&B, § 13M, which also permits warrantless arrest on probable cause even when the act was not in the officer's presence.
- Larceny, c. 266 § 30 - a felony when the value exceeds $1,200, a misdemeanor below that.
- Breaking and entering, c. 266 §§ 16–18; robbery, c. 265 § 19; armed robbery, § 17.
Procedure
- A warrantless misdemeanor arrest generally requires the offense in the officer's presence; felonies require probable cause. Statutory exceptions include domestic violence and OUI.
- Consent must be voluntary and within its stated scope; the automobile exception needs probable cause; inventory searches follow written policy; a frisk needs reasonable suspicion the person is armed and dangerous.
- An exit order after a valid stop needs a reasonable safety concern, not a hunch.
- Miranda applies to custody plus interrogation. Statements more than six hours after arrest are presumptively involuntary under Commonwealth v. Rosario.
Worked example
You stop a car for speeding and smell burnt marijuana. Under Commonwealth v. Cruz that odor alone is not probable cause to search, and under Rodriguez v. United States you cannot extend the stop beyond its mission without new justification. A baggie seen in plain view plus furtive movement could change the analysis; the odor alone cannot.
Traps
Importing federal standards uncritically; assuming an arrest is lawful without presence for a misdemeanor; searching after consent is withdrawn; forgetting the Rosario clock.