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March 18, 2024 Clear | 37°F
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 19: Rights of arrested person; habeas corpus; notice; penalty

Section 19. No person arrested upon such a warrant shall be delivered over to the agent whom the executive authority of the demanding state shall have appointed to receive him unless such person shall first be taken forthwith before a justice or special justice of a court of record of this commonwealth, who shall inform such person of the demand made for his surrender and of the crime with which he is charged, and that he has the right to demand and procure legal counsel; and, if the prisoner or his counsel shall state that he desires to test the legality of his arrest, such justice or special justice shall fix a reasonable time to be allowed the prisoner within which to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. When such writ is applied for, notice thereof, and of the time and place of hearing thereon, shall be given to the attorney general and to the district attorney for the district in which the arrest is made and for the district in which the accused is in custody, and to said agent of the demanding state.

Any officer who shall deliver to said agent of the demanding state a person in his custody under the warrant of the governor, in wilful disobedience of the provisions of this section, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.