reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 278 § 18 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 18 - Pleas of Not Guilty, Guilty or Nolo Contendere; Requests for Specific Disposition; Pretrial Motions

Section 18. A defendant who is before the Boston municipal court or a district court or a district court sitting in a juvenile session or a juvenile court on a criminal offense within the court's final jurisdiction shall plead not guilty or guilty, or with the consent of the court, nolo contendere. Such plea of guilty shall be submitted by the defendant and acted upon by the court; provided, however, that a defendant with whom the commonwealth cannot reach agreement for a recommended disposition shall be allowed to tender a plea of guilty together with a request for a specific disposition. Such request may include any disposition or dispositional terms within the court's jurisdiction, including, unless otherwise prohibited by law, a dispositional request that a guilty finding not be entered, but rather the case be continued without a finding to a specific date thereupon to be dismissed, such continuance conditioned upon compliance with specific terms and conditions or that the defendant be placed on probation pursuant to the provisions of section eighty-seven of chapter two hundred and seventy-six. If such a plea, with an agreed upon recommendation or with a dispositional request by the defendant, is tendered, the court shall inform the defendant that it will not impose a disposition that exceeds the terms of the agreed upon recommendation or the dispositional request by the defendant, whichever is applicable, without giving the defendant the right to withdraw the plea.  If a defendant, notwithstanding the requirements set forth hereinbefore, attempts to enter a plea or statement consisting of an admission of facts sufficient for finding of guilt, or some similar statement, such admission shall be deemed a tender of a plea of guilty for purposes of the procedures set forth in this section.  Any pretrial motion filed in a criminal case pending in the Boston municipal court or district court or a district court sitting in a juvenile session or a juvenile court and decided before entry of defendant's decision on waiver of the right to jury trial shall not be refiled or reheard thereafter, except in the discretion of the court as substantial justice requires. Any such pretrial motion not filed or filed but not decided prior to entry of the defendant's decision on waiver of the right to jury trial may be filed thereafter but not later than twenty-one days after entry of said decision on waiver of the right to jury trial, except for good cause shown.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 23 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 23 - Certain Acts or Omissions by Defendant Not Admissible Against Him in Criminal Trial

Section 23. At the trial of a criminal case in the superior court, upon indictment, or in a district court, the fact that the defendant did not testify at any preliminary hearing in the first court, or that at such hearing he waived examination or did not offer any evidence in his own defense, shall not be used as evidence against him, nor be referred to or commented upon by the prosecuting officer.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28 - Appeal to Supreme Judicial Court

Section 28. A defendant aggrieved by a judgment of the district court or of the superior court in any criminal proceeding may appeal therefrom to the supreme judicial court.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28a - Appellate Division of Superior Court for Review of Sentences

Section 28A. There shall be an appellate division of the superior court for the review of sentences to the state prison imposed by final judgments in criminal cases, except in any case in which a different sentence could not have been imposed, and for the review of sentences to the reformatory for women for terms of more than five years imposed by final judgments in such criminal cases. Said appellate division shall consist of three justices of the superior court to be designated from time to time by the chief justice of said court and shall sit in Boston or at a Massachusetts correctional institution or at such other place as may be designated by the chief justice and at such times as he shall determine. No justice shall sit or act on an appeal from a sentence imposed by him. Two justices shall constitute a quorum to decide all matters before the appellate division.  A designation by the chief justice of the members of the appellate division shall be recorded by the clerk of the appellate division who shall forthwith send copies thereof to the several clerks of the superior court.  The clerk of the superior court for criminal business in Suffolk county shall be the clerk of the appellate division of the superior court. The first assistant clerk of superior court for criminal business in Suffolk county shall be the first assistant clerk of the appellate division of the superior court; the second assistant clerk of the superior court for criminal business in Suffolk county shall be the second assistant clerk of the appellate division of the superior court.  The clerk or an assistant clerk of the appellate division of the superior court shall attend all sittings of the appellate division wherever such sittings are held and shall record the proceedings thereof. The clerk shall have the care and custody of all records, books and papers which pertain to said appellate division. The clerk and the assistant clerks of the appellate division shall have all the power and authority of a clerk of courts in any county of the commonwealth in any and all matters pertaining to the appellate division or to any criminal case in which an appeal for a review of a sentence imposed in any county has been filed.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28b - Right of Appeal to Appellate Division; Time Limit; Stay of Execution of Sentence; Jurisdiction; Review of Judgment, etc.; Disposition

Section 28B. A person aggrieved by a sentence which may be reviewed may appeal to the appellate division for a review of such sentence. Upon the imposition of a sentence which may be reviewed, the clerk of the court shall notify the person sentenced of his right to appeal. The appeal shall be filed with the clerk of the court for the county where the judgment was rendered within ten days after the imposition of said sentence. An appeal shall not stay the execution of a sentence. The clerk of the court shall notify the chief justice, the justice who imposed the sentence and the clerk of the appellate division of the filing of an appeal. The justice who imposed the sentence appealed from may transmit to the appellate division a statement of his reasons for imposing the sentence and shall make such a statement within seven days if requested to do so by the appellate division.  The appellate division shall have jurisdiction to consider an appeal with or without a hearing, review the judgment so far as it relates to the sentence imposed and also any other sentence imposed when the sentence appealed from was imposed, notwithstanding the partial execution of any such sentence, and shall have jurisdiction to amend the judgment by ordering substituted therefor a different appropriate sentence or sentences or any other disposition of the case which could have been made at the time of the imposition of the sentence or sentences under review, but no sentence shall be increased without giving the defendant an opportunity to be heard. If the appellate division decides that the original sentence or sentences should stand, it shall dismiss the appeal. Its decision shall be final. The clerk of the appellate division shall forthwith notify the appellant, the superintendent of the correctional institution in which the appellant is confined, the clerk of the court in which judgment was rendered, the justice who imposed the sentence appealed from and the chief justice of the final action of the appellate division on an appeal. The appellate division may require the production of any records, documents, exhibits or other things connected with the proceedings. The superior court shall by rule establish forms for appeals hereunder and may by rule make such other regulations of procedure relative thereto, consistent with law, as justice may require.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28c - Amendment of Judgment; Resentencing or Other Disposition

Section 28C. If the judgment is amended by an order substituting a different sentence or sentences or disposition of the case, the appellate division or any member thereof shall resentence the defendant or make any other disposition of the case in accordance with the order of said appellate division. Time served on a sentence appealed from shall be deemed to have been served on a substituted sentence.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28d1/2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28d1/2 - Salary of Clerk and Assistant Clerks of Appellate Division; Designation and Salary of Clerical Assistant in Matters Pertaining to Business of Appellate Division

Section 28D1/2. The clerk of the appellate division shall receive from the commonwealth as salary an amount equal to 10 per cent of, and in addition to, the salary established and paid to said clerk of the superior court for criminal business in the county of Suffolk.  The first assistant clerk and the second assistant clerk of the appellate division shall receive from the commonwealth as salary an amount equal to 10 per cent of, and in addition to, the salaries established and paid to them as the first assistant clerk and second assistant clerk, respectively, of the superior court for criminal business in the county of Suffolk.  An employee of the office of the clerk of the superior court for criminal business in the county of Suffolk shall be designated by the clerk as the clerical assistant in matters pertaining to the business of the appellate division. The clerical assistant, so designated, shall receive from the commonwealth as salary an amount equal to 10 per cent of, and in addition to, the salary established and paid to said employee in the position held by said employee in the office of the clerk.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 28e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 28e - Appeals by Commonwealth

Section 28E. An appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the commonwealth by the attorney general or a district attorney from the district court to the appeals court in all criminal cases and in all delinquency cases from a decision, order or judgment of the court (1) allowing a motion to dismiss an indictment or complaint, (2) allowing a motion to suppress evidence, or (3) denying a motion to transfer pursuant to section sixty-one of chapter one hundred and nineteen.  An appeal may be taken by and on behalf of the commonwealth by the attorney general or a district attorney from the superior court to the supreme judicial court in all criminal cases from a decision, order or judgment of the court (1) allowing a motion to dismiss an indictment or complaint, or (2) allowing a motion for appropriate relief under the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure.  An application for an appeal from a decision, order or judgment of the superior court determining a motion to suppress evidence prior to trial may be filed in the supreme judicial court by a defendant or by and on behalf of the commonwealth by the attorney general or a district attorney. If such application is denied, or if such application is granted but the interlocutory appeal is heard by a single justice, the determination of the motion to suppress evidence shall be open to review by the full court after trial in the same manner and to the same extent as determinations of such motions not appealed under the interlocutory procedure herein authorized.  Rules of practice and procedure with respect to appeals authorized by this section shall be the same as those applicable to criminal appeals under the Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 29b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 29b - Withdrawal of Uncounseled Guilty Plea

Section 29B. If a defendant having a right to counsel in a criminal proceeding has not been represented by counsel or has not properly waived his right to counsel and has entered a plea of guilty, such defendant may withdraw such plea as a matter of right at any time prior to imposition of sentence by the court.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 29d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 29d - Conviction Upon Plea of Guilty, Nolo Contendere or an Admission to Sufficient Facts; Motion to Vacate

Section 29D. The court shall not accept a plea of guilty, a plea of nolo contendere, or an admission to sufficient facts from any defendant in any criminal proceeding unless the court advises such defendant of the following: ''If you are not a citizen of the United States, you are hereby advised that the acceptance by this court of your plea of guilty, plea of nolo contendere, or admission to sufficient facts may have consequences of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization, pursuant to the laws of the United States.'' The court shall advise such defendant during every plea colloquy at which the defendant is proffering a plea of guilty, a plea of nolo contendere, or an admission to sufficient facts. The defendant shall not be required at the time of the plea to disclose to the court his legal status in the United States.  If the court fails so to advise the defendant, and he later at any time shows that his plea and conviction may have or has had one of the enumerated consequences, even if the defendant has already been deported from the United States, the court, on the defendant's motion, shall vacate the judgment, and permit the defendant to withdraw the plea of guilty, plea of nolo contendere, or admission of sufficient facts, and enter a plea of not guilty. Absent an official record or a contemporaneously written record kept in the court file that the court provided the advisement as prescribed in this section, including but not limited to a docket sheet that accurately reflects that the warning was given as required by this section, the defendant shall be presumed not to have received advisement. An advisement previously or subsequently provided the defendant during another plea colloquy shall not satisfy the advisement required by this section, nor shall it be used to presume the defendant understood the plea of guilty, or admission to sufficient facts he seeks to vacate would have the consequence of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 33e (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 33e - Capital Cases; Review by Supreme Judicial Court

Section 33E. In a capital case as hereinafter defined the entry in the supreme judicial court shall transfer to that court the whole case for its consideration of the law and the evidence. Upon such consideration the court may, if satisfied that the verdict was against the law or the weight of the evidence, or because of newly discovered evidence, or for any other reason that justice may require (a) order a new trial or (b) direct the entry of a verdict of a lesser degree of guilt, and remand the case to the superior court for the imposition of sentence. For the purpose of such review a capital case shall mean: (i) a case in which the defendant was tried on an indictment for murder in the first degree and was convicted of murder in the first degree; or (ii) the third conviction of a habitual offender under subsection (b) of section 25 of chapter 279. After the entry of the appeal in a capital case and until the filing of the rescript by the supreme judicial court motions for a new trial shall be presented to that court and shall be dealt with by the full court, which may itself hear and determine such motions or remit the same to the trial judge for hearing and determination. If any motion is filed in the superior court after rescript, no appeal shall lie from the decision of that court upon such motion unless the appeal is allowed by a single justice of the supreme judicial court on the ground that it presents a new and substantial question which ought to be determined by the full court.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 34 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 34 - Motions in Arrest of Judgment

Section 34. No motion in arrest of judgment shall be allowed for a cause existing before verdict, unless it affects the jurisdiction of the court.
MA Gen L ch 278 § 35 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278 - Trials and Proceedings Before Judgment|Section 35 - Trial of Male and Female Prisoners

Section 35. In all trials in district courts, male and female prisoners shall not be placed at the same time in the same dock, unless they are complained of jointly.
MA Gen L ch 278a § 1 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278a - Post Conviction Access to Forensic and Scientific Analysis|Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings: —  ''Analysis'', the process by which a forensic or scientific technique is applied to evidence or biological material to identify the perpetrator of a crime.  ''Biological material'', a sexual assault forensic examination kit, semen, blood, saliva, hair, skin tissue or other identified biological substance.  ''Conviction'', a verdict or finding of guilty, a plea of guilty, a plea of nolo contendere or an adjudication of delinquency as a juvenile entered by the trial court.  ''Exhaustive testing'', analysis of a particular item of evidence or biological material that precludes replicate analysis of the evidence or biological material.  ''Factually innocent'', a person convicted of a criminal offense who did not commit that offense.  ''Governmental entity'', an official body of the commonwealth, or of a county, city or town within the commonwealth.  ''Identity'', the moving party's identity as the perpetrator of the offense for which the moving party was convicted in the underlying case.  ''Moving party'', a person who files a motion under this chapter.  ''Post conviction'', indicates any time after which a conviction has been entered.  ''Prosecuting attorney'', the district attorney for the district in which the moving party was convicted or the attorney general of the commonwealth.  ''Replicate analysis'', the duplication of an analysis performed on a particular item of evidence or biological material.  ''Underlying case'', the trial court proceedings that resulted in the conviction of the moving party.  ''Victim'', any natural person who suffered direct or threatened physical, emotional or financial harm as the result of the commission or attempted commission of the crime or delinquency case that is the subject of the underlying case; ''victim'' shall also include the parent, guardian, legal representative or administrator or executor of the estate of such person if that person is a minor, incompetent or deceased.
MA Gen L ch 278a § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278a - Post Conviction Access to Forensic and Scientific Analysis|Section 2 - Conditions for Filing Motion for Forensic or Scientific Analysis; Affect of Chapter Upon Analysis Under Other Circumstances

Section 2. A person may file a motion for forensic or scientific analysis under this chapter if that person: (1) has been convicted of a criminal offense in a court of the commonwealth; (2) is incarcerated in a state prison, house of correction, is on parole or probation or whose liberty has been otherwise restrained as the result of a conviction; and (3) asserts factual innocence of the crime for which the person has been convicted.  This chapter shall not be construed to prohibit the performance of forensic or scientific analysis under any other circumstances, including by agreement between the person convicted of a criminal offense and the prosecuting attorney.
MA Gen L ch 278a § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278a - Post Conviction Access to Forensic and Scientific Analysis|Section 4 - Jurisdiction Over Motion; Service of Motion; Response by Prosecuting Attorney

Section 4. (a) The moving party shall file a motion under section 3 with the court that adjudicated the underlying case and shall serve a copy of the motion on the prosecuting attorney.  (b) If the motion is not dismissed by the court under subsection (e) of section 3, the prosecuting attorney shall file a response with the court within 60 days after the date upon which the court issues notice under said subsection (e) of said section 3, and shall simultaneously serve the response on the moving party. The prosecuting attorney may request additional time in which to file the response, which the court may grant for good cause shown.  (c) The prosecuting attorney's response shall include any specific legal or factual objections that the prosecuting attorney has to the requested analysis.
MA Gen L ch 278a § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part IV - Crimes, Punishments and Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Title II - Proceedings in Criminal Cases|Chapter 278a - Post Conviction Access to Forensic and Scientific Analysis|Section 5 - Appointed Counsel

Section 5. The court may assign or appoint counsel to represent a moving party who meets the definition of indigency under section 2 of chapter 211D in the preparation and presentation of motions filed under this chapter.