Massachusetts Arrest, Search and Seizure Citator

Fact-driven decisions, issue-specific summaries

The Massachusetts Arrest, Search, and Seizure Citator includes detailed summaries of the applicable law, along with hundreds of abstracts of Massachusetts search and seizure cases. The book is organized by numerous finding aids, including a table of cases organized by legal issue and key words for each abstracted case. Use this reference for a detailed overview of Massachusetts law, as articulated through over three decades of decisions.

Recent updates:

Inside, you will find new cases summarized, in the areas of both warrantless searches and searches conducted pursuant to warrants-including these:

Cases with warrants; failure of judge to sign warrant.

A 2024 case held that a judge's failure to sign the warrant was a mere oversight, as the judge had signed the officer's affidavit attached to the search warrant.

Cases with warrants; informant privilege.

A 2023 case held that whether an informant's identity should be disclosed follows a two-stage analysis: The court makes a preliminary determination whether the Commonwealth properly asserted the informant privilege and, if so, whether the defendant has met their burden to challenge that privilege by establishing an impermissible interference with the defendant's right to present a defense.

Cases with warrants; search warrant for CSLI information.

A 2024 case held that police may obtain a search warrant for CSLI information where they have probable cause that the suspect committed a crime, that the suspect's location was necessary in proving that crime, and that the suspect possessed a cell phone at the relevant time.

Cases without warrants; drug activity.

A 2024 case held that for the basis for reasonable suspicion for a drug transaction, police need not observe an exchange of items or actually see drugs or cash, but the police observations must occur in a factual context that demonstrates criminal activity.

Cases without warrants; exigent circumstances; search of car.

A 2023 case held that even where an informant specified that the gun would be found in a particular location within the car (a backpack), that did not preclude the possibility that there was probable cause to search for contraband in another part of the car.