Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 11 (2026)

Corroboration of one witness; limitations

✓ current as of July 2026

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

Section 11. A person shall not be convicted under sections 2, 4 and 6 upon the evidence of one witness only, unless his testimony is corroborated in a material particular, and prosecution for a violation of any of said sections shall not be commenced more than one year after the commission of the crime.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 9 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1925–2023 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Helfant, 496 N.E.2d 433 (Mass. 1986).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Commonwealth v. Helfant, 496 N.E.2d 433 (Mass. 1986). · cites it 6× “See G.L.c. 272, § 11. [3] Under G.L.c. 272, § 3, [4] the elements of the crime of drugging for sexual intercourse are (1) administration of a drug and (2) intent to stupefy or overpower the victim in order to have unlawful sexual intercourse.”

Commonwealth v. Gustavo Gonzalez Santos., 100 Mass. App. Ct. 1 (Mass. App. Ct. 2021). · cites it 3× “272, § 3, so that it can now be proved "upon the evidence of one witness only," even if the testimony of that witness is not, as required by G. L. c. 272, § 11, "corroborated in a material particular.”

Commonwealth v. Bucaulis, 373 N.E.2d 221 (Mass. App. Ct. 1978). · cites it 3× “The defendant also contends that his motions for a directed verdict of not guilty and his motion to set aside the verdict of guilty should have been allowed on the ground that the Commonwealth had failed to satisfy the requirement under G. L. c. 272, § 11, that "[a] person shall…”

Commonwealth v. White, 61 N.E.3d 423 (Mass. 2016). “3, citing G. L. c. 272, § 11. Surveying our cases dealing with comparable corroboration requirements, we concluded that corroborating evidence must relate to the specific criminal act at issue and, in particular, that it must consist of ‘“some specific testimonial fact, which,…”

Commonwealth v. DeBrosky, 297 N.E.2d 496 (Mass. 1973). · cites it 2× “Under G. L. c. 272, § 11, a person shall not be convicted of certain crimes concerning the abduction, and so forth, of women “upon the evidence of one witness only, unless his testimony is corroborated in a material particular” (emphasis supplied).”

Commonwealth v. Taschetta, 252 Mass. 158 (Mass. 1925). “G. L. c. 272, § 11. The testimqny of Josephine Toscana was so corroborated.”

Commonwealth v. Buono (Mass. 2020). · cites it 3× “272, §§ 2, 4, and 6,] upon the evidence of one witness only, unless his testimony is corroborated in a material particular" [emphasis added]); G.”

Commonwealth v. Paul Collins. (Mass. App. Ct. 2023). · cites it 3× “The SJC opined that, although the Helfant standard had originated from the interpretation of a different statute's corroboration requirement, G. L. c. 272, § 11, the standard was "especially appropriate for defining the corroboration requirement" of § 63 because "[i]t distills…”

Commonwealth v. White (Mass. 2016). “3, citing G. L. c. 272, § 11. Surveying our cases dealing with comparable corroboration requirements, we concluded that corroborating evidence must relate to the specific criminal act at issue, and, in particular, that it must consist of "some specific testimonial fact, which,…”

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.