Section 27A. (a) Every division of the district court department is authorized to hold jury sessions for the purpose of conducting jury trials of cases commenced in the several courts of criminal offenses over which the district courts have original jurisdiction under the provisions of section twenty-six. The Boston municipal court department shall also be authorized for the purpose of conducting jury trials in cases commenced in said department and for the purpose of conducting jury trials of cases commenced in the divisions of the district court department in Suffolk county.
(b) The chief justice for the district court department shall designate at least one division in each county or an adjoining county for the purpose of conducting jury trials; provided, however, that jury trials in cases commenced in the courts within Suffolk county shall be held in the Boston municipal court department or district courts in Suffolk county or with the approval of the chief justice, may be held in such divisions of the district court department the judicial districts of which adjoin Suffolk county as are designated by said chief justice; and jury trials in cases commenced in the divisions for Dukes county and Nantucket county may be held in Barnstable county or Bristol county; and provided further that, with the approval of the chief justice for the superior court department, facilities of said superior court may be designated by the chief justice for administration and management of the trial court for jury trials in cases commenced in the district court department or in the Boston municipal court department. Jurors shall be drawn from the county in which trial is held.
The chief justice of the district court department may also designate one or more divisions in each county for the purpose of conducting jury-waived trials of cases commenced in any court of said county consistent with the requirements of the proper administration of justice.
(c) A defendant in any division of the district court who waives his right to jury trial as provided in section twenty-six A shall be provided a jury-waived trial in the same division.
A defendant in any division of the district court who does not waive his right to jury trial as provided in section twenty-six A shall be provided a jury trial in a jury session in the same division if such has been established in said division. If such session has not been so established, the defendant shall be provided a jury trial in a jury session as hereinbefore designated. In cases where the defendant declines to waive the right to jury trial, the clerk shall forthwith transfer the case for trial in the appropriate jury session. Such transfer shall be governed by procedures to be established by the chief justice for the district court department.
(d) The justice presiding over a jury session shall have and exercise all the powers and duties which a justice sitting in the superior court department has and may exercise in the trial and disposition of criminal cases including the power to report questions of law to the appeals court, but in no case may he impose a sentence to the state prison. No justice so sitting shall act in a case in which he has sat or held an inquest or otherwise taken part in any proceeding therein.
(e) Trials by juries of six persons shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of law applicable to trials by jury in the superior court except that the number of peremptory challenges shall be limited to two to each defendant. The commonwealth shall be entitled to as many challenges as equal the whole number to which all the defendants in the case entitled.
(f) For the jury sessions, jurors shall be provided by the office of the jury commissioner in accordance with the provisions of chapter two hundred and thirty-four A.
(g) The district attorney for the district in which the alleged offense or offenses occurred shall appear for the commonwealth in the trial of all cases in which the right to jury trial has not been waived and may appear in any other case. The chief justices for the district court department and the Boston municipal court department shall arrange for the sittings of the jury sessions of their respective departments and shall assign justices thereto, to the end that speedy trials may be provided. Review may be had directly by the appeals court, by appeals, report or otherwise in the same manner provided for trials of criminal cases in the superior court.
(h) The justice presiding at such jury session in the Boston municipal court department or district court department shall, upon the request of the defendant, appoint a stenographer; provided, however, that where the defendant claims indigency, such appointment is determined to be reasonably necessary in accordance with the provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-one. Such stenographer shall be sworn, and shall take stenographic notes of all the testimony given at the trial, and shall provide the parties thereto with a transcript of his notes or any part thereof taken at the trial or hearing for which he shall be paid by the party requesting it at the rate fixed by the chief justice for the department where the case is tried; and provided, further, that such rate shall not exceed the rate provided by section eighty-eight of chapter two hundred and twenty-one. Said chief justice may make regulations not inconsistent with law relative to the assignments, duties and services of stenographers appointed for sessions in his department and any other matter relative to stenographers. The compensation and expenses of a stenographer shall be paid by the commonwealth.
The request for the appointment of a stenographer to preserve the testimony at a trial shall be given to the clerk of the court by the defendant in writing no later than forty-eight hours prior to the proceeding for which the stenographer has been requested. In the Boston municipal court department or the district court department, the defendant shall file with such request an affidavit of indigency and request for payment by the commonwealth of the cost of the transcript and the court shall hold a hearing on such request prior to appointing a stenographer, in those cases where the defendant alleges that he will be unable to pay said cost. Said hearing shall be governed by the provisions of sections twenty-seven A to twenty-seven G, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and sixty-one, and the cost of such transcript shall be considered an extra cost as provided therein. If the court is unable, for any reason, to provide a stenographer, the proceedings may be recorded by electronic means. The original recording of proceedings in the Boston municipal court department or the district court department made with a recording device under the exclusive control of the court shall be the official record of such proceedings. Said record or a copy of all or a part thereof, certified by the chief justices for the Boston municipal court department or the district court department, or his designee, to be an accurate electronic reproduction of said record or part thereof, or a typewritten transcript of all or a part of said record or copy thereof, certified to be accurate by the court or by the preparer of said transcript, or stipulated to by the parties, shall be admissible in any court as evidence of testimony given whenever proof of such testimony is otherwise competent. The defendant may request payment by the commonwealth of the cost of said transcript subject to the same provisions regarding a transcript of a stenographer as provided hereinbefore.
(i) In any case heard in a jury session where a defendant is found guilty and placed on probation, he shall thereafter be supervised by the probation officer of the court in which the case originated, unless the trial justice shall order otherwise and unless the regulations of the commissioner of probation provide otherwise.
Structure Massachusetts General Laws
Part III - Courts, Judicial Officers and Proceedings in Civil Cases
Title I - Courts and Judicial Officers
Section 1 - Territorial Jurisdiction and Place of Holding Court
Section 2 - Boston Municipal Courts; Concurrent Jurisdiction Over Waters and Islands
Section 2a - Transfer of Civil Actions Brought in Wrong Court
Section 3 - Boston Municipal Courts; Concurrent Criminal Jurisdiction Over Waters and Islands
Section 4 - District Court Jurisdiction; Seals
Section 4a - Massachusetts Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act
Section 5 - Contempt Cases; Service of Process
Section 6 - Justices; Number; Terms; Compensation; Duties
Section 7 - Oaths; Power to Administer
Section 8 - Clerks; Appointment; Number; Retirement; Vacation and Sick Leave
Section 10a - Deputy Assistant Clerks; Power to Designate
Section 11 - Temporary Assistant Clerks
Section 12 - Clerks; Oath of Office; Duties and Powers
Section 14 - Facsimile Signatures
Section 15 - Times for Holding Trials; Office Hours
Section 18 - Justices and Clerks; Receipt of Certain Fees; Prohibition
Section 19 - General Provisions
Section 19b - District Court or Boston Municipal Court; Trial by Jury of Six; Appeals
Section 19c - District Court Jurisdiction; Equity Powers and Rules
Section 19d - Housing Specialists; Appointment; Knowledge Requisites; Powers and Duties
Section 20 - Actions Against Executors and Administrators, and Against Bail
Section 24 - Transfer to Regular Docket
Section 25 - Costs; Discretion of Court
Section 26 - General Provisions
Section 26a - Trial by Jury; Discovery; Jury-Waived Trial; Record of Proceedings; Probation
Section 27 - Imposition of Penalties
Section 28 - Recognizances to Keep Peace
Section 30 - Binding Over to Superior Court
Section 32 - Complaints and Warrants
Section 32a - Inclusion of Offense-Based Tracking Number on Application for Complaint
Section 33 - Warrants and Process; Power of Clerks to Issue
Section 34 - Arrest Without Warrant; Endorsement of Complaint by Arresting Officer
Section 36 - Justice of Peace; Taking Bail
Section 38 - Access to Courts; Sittings; Adjournments; Filing of Complaints
Section 39 - Books and Supplies
Section 40 - Part-Time Special Justices; Authorized Cases
Section 41 - Special Justice; Powers and Duties
Section 42 - Adjournment When Justice Absent
Section 42a - Chief Justice; Powers and Duties
Section 42b - Deputy Court Administrator
Section 43 - Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure; Power to Make and Promulgate
Section 43a - Uniform Practices; Forms; Superintendence of Record Keeping
Section 43b - Official Forms; Powers of Chief Justice
Section 43e - Community Mediation Advisory Board; Coordinator
Section 44 - Process; Formal Requisites; Territorial Jurisdiction
Section 47 - Clerks; Duty to Make Payments and to Account; Penalty
Section 48 - Sentences to Deer Island
Section 49 - Clerks; Duty to Pay Certain Fees; Advances; Accounting
Section 50 - Justices; Number; Vacation and Sick Leave; Rule Making Power
Section 51a - Chief Justice of the Boston Municipal Court Department; Powers and Duties
Section 52 - Justices and Special Justices; Assignment; Additional Sessions; Compensation, Etc.
Section 52a - Clerks; Criminal and Civil Business
Section 53 - Clerks and Assistant Clerks
Section 53a - Temporary Assistant Clerks
Section 54 - Civil Jurisdiction
Section 55 - Recording Systems; Stenographic and Medical Services and Equipment
Section 56 - Clerks; Accounting; Penalty
Section 57 - Juvenile Courts; Divisions; Territorial Jurisdiction; Appeals
Section 57a - Chief Justice for the Juvenile Court Department; Powers and Duties
Section 57b - Deputy Court Administrator for the Juvenile Court Department
Section 58 - Justices and Clerks; Assignment; Salaries; Vacation and Sick Leave; Interpreters
Section 58a - Administrative Assistant for Intergovernmental Relations
Section 58c - Special Justices of Juvenile Court
Section 59 - Powers, Duties and Procedure; Jurisdiction
Section 60 - Jurisdiction Over Offenders; Rule Making Power
Section 66 - Boston Municipal Court Department; Messenger
Section 67 - Boston Municipal Court; Interpreters
Section 68 - East Boston Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department; Interpreter
Section 69 - Clerks of Divisions of District Court Department; Allowance for Assistance
Section 70 - Clerks of Boston Municipal and Juvenile Court Departments; Allowance for Assistance
Section 74 - Monthly Installments
Section 75b - Salaries of Assistant Clerks of Boston Municipal Court Department
Section 79 - Salaries of Clerks
Section 80 - Compensation of Assistant Clerks; Practice of Law