Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 279, § 34 (2026)

Delivery to sheriff of certified transcript from minutes of court of conviction and sentence; execution of sentence

✓ current as of July 2026

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Section 34. When a convict is sentenced to pay a fine or to be imprisoned, the clerk of the court shall forthwith make out and deliver to the sheriff or to some officer in court a duly certified transcript from the minutes of the court of the conviction and sentence, which shall authorize the officer to execute such sentence, and he shall execute it accordingly. When such convict is sentenced to be imprisoned in a correctional institution of the commonwealth, except the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater and the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, the officer authorized to execute such sentence shall deliver him to the reception center established in accordance with the provisions of section twenty of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven for examination and classification.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases, 1969–2006 · leading case: Commonwealth v. McLaughlin, 729 N.E.2d 252 (Mass. 2000).

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Commonwealth v. McLaughlin, 729 N.E.2d 252 (Mass. 2000). · cites it 2× “The court quoted from a precursor of G. L. c. 279, § 34, which provided (as § 34 now provides) that when a defendant is sentenced to imprisonment or a fine, the clerk of the court shall “as soon as may be” (for which the current version of § 34 substitutes “forthwith”) deliver…”

Sheriff of Middlesex Cnty. v. COMM. OF Corr., 421 N.E.2d 75 (Mass. 1981). “They point to G. L. c. 279, § 34, as directing that a person sentenced to a State correctional institution be delivered for proper classification to the reception center established pursuant to G.”

Commonwealth v. Clark, 758 N.E.2d 1100 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001). “” G. L. c. 279, § 34. The question is whether the change in the mittimus conforms the mittimus to the original sentence or is an impermissible attempt to change the sentence itself.”

Commonwealth v. Murphy, 829 N.E.2d 1149 (Mass. App. Ct. 2005). “See G. L. c. 279, § 34. See also Black’s Law Dictionary 1024 (8th ed.”

Commonwealth v. Perry, 843 N.E.2d 640 (Mass. App. Ct. 2006). “286, 289 (1999) (mittimus, as defined in G. L. c. 279, § 34, embodies the sentence imposed by the judge and authorizes “the officer to execute such sentence”).”

Bolduc v. Comm'r of Corr., 247 N.E.2d 561 (Mass. 1969). “*767 The mittimus under which a person is committed to prison is “a duly certified transcript [[issued by the clerk] from the minutes of the court of the conviction and sentence, which shall authorize the officer to execute such sentence, and he shall execute it accordingly.”

Abrahams v. Comm'r of Corr., 786 N.E.2d 1249 (Mass. App. Ct. 2003). “The commissioner argues that the forthwith sentence did not begin until the plaintiff had concluded service of the Federal sentence and was physically delivered to the State facility, G. L. c. 279, § 34, and that the judge either should be presumed to have imposed the sentence…”

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