Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 266, § 14 (2026)

Burglary; armed; assault on occupants; weapons; punishment

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 14. Whoever breaks and enters a dwelling house in the night time, with intent to commit a felony, or whoever, after having entered with such intent, breaks such dwelling house in the night time, any person being then lawfully therein, and the offender being armed with a dangerous weapon at the time of such breaking or entry, or so arming himself in such house, or making an actual assault on a person lawfully therein, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of not less than ten years.

Whoever commits any offense described in this section while armed with a firearm, as defined in section 121 of chapter 140, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years, but not less than 15 years. Whoever commits a subsequent such offense shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years, but not less than 20 years. The sentence imposed upon a person who, after being convicted of any offence mentioned in this section, commits the like offence, or any other of the offences therein mentioned, shall not be suspended, nor shall he be placed on probation.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 114 cases (12 in the last 5 years), 1965–2026 · leading case: Aldoupolis v. Commonwealth, 435 N.E.2d 330 (Mass. 1982).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Aldoupolis v. Commonwealth, 435 N.E.2d 330 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 8× “Another provision of the General Laws, G.L.c. 266, § 14, however, indicates that the *266 former interpretation is closer to the legislative intent underlying G.”

Commonwealth v. Claudio, 634 N.E.2d 902 (Mass. 1994). · cites it 8× “, of breaking and entering a dwelling in the night time with intent to commit a felony and assaulting a person lawfully therein, see G. L. c. 266, § 14 (1992 ed.), and murder in the first degree by reason of felony-murder.”

Commonwealth v. Cruz, 714 N.E.2d 813 (Mass. 1999). · cites it 11× “103, 108 [1994] [armed burglary in dwelling with assault therein, under G. L. c. 266, § 14, is inherently dangerous felony and supported conviction for felony-murder”]).”

People v. Oram, 217 P.3d 883 (Colo. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 2× “Law § 6-202(a) ("break and enter") Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 266, § 14 ("breaks and enters") *900 Mich.”

Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 855 N.E.2d 406 (Mass. App. Ct. 2006). · cites it 8× “This case requires us to examine G. L. c. 266, § 14 (armed burglary), to determine whether it covers a breaking and entering of a dwelling with intent to commit a felony and a subsequent assault on a person lawfully therein even though that person arrived home after the break…”

Commonwealth v. Gordon, 678 N.E.2d 1341 (Mass. App. Ct. 1997). · cites it 14× “The defendant was the subject of five indictments: three of the indictments charged him with armed burglary or assault (G. L. c. 266, § 14), and the remaining indictments charged him with armed robbery and armed home invasion.”

Commonwealth v. Antonmarchi, 874 N.E.2d 665 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007). · cites it 8× “Claiming that the home invasion statute is an “anomaly,” and that its plain meaning, and the interpretation of closely related statutes, indicate that its “purpose is to deter home invasions,” the defendant asks that we interpret it, as the armed burglary statute, G. L. c. 266,…”

Commonwealth v. Gunter, 692 N.E.2d 515 (Mass. 1998). · cites it 3× “103, 109 (1994), we held that an illegal breaking and entering a dwelling in the nighttime with the intent to commit an armed assault, G. L. c. 266, § 14, which then led to an assault culminating in a homicide, *273 was sufficiently distinct “from armed assault in other…”

Commonwealth v. Brown, 730 N.E.2d 297 (Mass. 2000). · cites it 4× “, G. L. c. 266, § 14 (individuals convicted of burglary while armed with certain weapons “shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years, but not less than 15 years”).”

Commonwealth v. Jackson, 731 N.E.2d 1066 (Mass. 2000). · cites it 4× “The defendant argues that the absence of evidence that a weapon was used precludes consideration of assaultive burglary, G. L. c. 266, § 14, 5 as the basis for a conviction of felony-murder in the first degree.”

People v. Fuentes, 258 P.3d 320 (Colo. Ct. App. 2011). “It noted that Massachusetts's robbery statutes emphasized the assault aspect over the larceny aspect of that crime, and thus multiple convictions for robbery were appropriate if there were multiple victims.”

Commonwealth v. Rolon, 784 N.E.2d 1092 (Mass. 2003). · cites it 2× “” The statute, G. L. c. 266, § 14, defines two forms of armed burglary.”

Show all 114 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.