MA · jury_instructions
Instruction 7.260, Criminal Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court
False report of a crime (G.L. c. 269, § 13A)
FALSE REPORT OF A CRIME
G.L. c. 269, § 13A
The defendant is charged with making a false report of a crime.
In order to prove the defendant guilty of this offense, the
Commonwealth must prove four things beyond a reasonable doubt:
First: That the defendant reported a crime to a police officer, or
caused such a report to be made;
Second: That the report was false;
Third: That the defendant intended to make the false report to a
police officer and it was not made merely by accident or through
negligence; and
Fourth: That the defendant knew that the report (he) (she) was
making or causing to be made was false.
Commonwealth v. Salyer, 84 Mass. App. Ct. 346, 351-352 (2013).
If the Commonwealth has proved all four elements beyond a
reasonable doubt, you should return a verdict of guilty. If the
Commonwealth has failed to prove any element of the offense beyond a
reasonable doubt, you must return a verdict of not guilty.
See Instructions 3.120 (Intent) and 3.140 (Knowledge).
History
Instruction 7.260, Criminal Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court (Revised May 2014). Published by the Administrative Office of the District Court, District Court Department of the Trial Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on www.mass.gov. © 1988-2009 Administrative Office of the District Court; reproduced under its title-page permission ("You may freely reproduce or copy this work if you identify its source and any changes made to the original work"). Source: https://www.mass.gov/doc/7260-false-report-of-a-crime-gl-c-269-ss-13a/download. Changes made: the text is extracted from the published PDF (verified by three extraction engines); the running headers, page numbers and line layout are removed, and a closing NOTES section, where printed, is carried as the note.
Provenance
- Source
- mass.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
5fe800f564464e56047c34f56ffcf99f67e97f54afa46b46f10975338269aebe
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