Massachusetts Statutes
§ 8A — Killing or injuring a person unlawfully in a dwelling; defense
Massachusetts § 8A
JurisdictionMassachusetts
Part IVCRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Title IIPROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES
Ch. 278TRIALS AND PROCEEDINGS BEFORE JUDGMENT
This text of Massachusetts § 8A (Killing or injuring a person unlawfully in a dwelling; defense) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Bluebook
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, § 8A (2026).
Text
Section 8A. In the prosecution of a person who is an occupant of a dwelling charged with killing or injuring one who was unlawfully in said dwelling, it shall be a defense that the occupant was in his dwelling at the time of the offense and that he acted in the reasonable belief that the person unlawfully in said dwelling was about to inflict great bodily injury or death upon said occupant or upon another person lawfully in said dwelling, and that said occupant used reasonable means to defend himself or such other person lawfully in said dwelling. There shall be no duty on said occupant to retreat from such person unlawfully in said dwelling.
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Bluebook (online)
Massachusetts § 8A, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/statute/ma/278/8A.