Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest in Massachusetts: How These Cases End

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense

Every week in Greater Boston, someone with no criminal record leaves a bar, a concert, a tailgate, or a party and ends up charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, or both. The police report describes chaos. The client remembers confusion. And the case that follows is usually far more defensible than the person charged expects. This post explains how these cases move through the Massachusetts courts and where they are won.

Before treating any charge as a foregone conclusion, it is worth knowing how a Massachusetts case can be dismissed and why a real dismissal beats a plea that is not a conviction.

Two Charges That Travel Together

Disorderly conduct under M.G.L. c. 272, § 53 punishes fighting, threatening, violent or tumultuous behavior, or the creation of a hazardous or physically offensive condition for no legitimate purpose. A first offense carries only a fine of up to $150. Resisting arrest under M.G.L. c. 268, § 32B is the heavier count and carries up to two and one half years in a house of correction. The two are often charged together because the second charge grows out of the arrest for the first, and the pairing matters. Prosecutors treat the resisting count as leverage, and stripping it out of a case early changes everything about how the case resolves.

The Law Is Narrower Than the Police Report

Both statutes cover less conduct than officers commonly charge. Yelling at the police is protected speech, not disorderly conduct, and the Appeals Court has held that shouting and waving arms during a police encounter is not tumultuous behavior. Conduct with a legitimate purpose falls outside the statute under Commonwealth v. Feigenbaum. On the resisting side, the Supreme Judicial Court held in Commonwealth v. Montoya that running from police is not resisting arrest unless the flight itself creates a substantial risk of injury to an officer. Pulling away during handcuffing, going stiff, or losing balance in a scrum rarely satisfies the statute’s requirement of force or substantial risk of bodily injury. And under Commonwealth v. Moreira, a person retains the right to defend against excessive force even during an arrest.

Where These Cases Are Won

Many disorderly conduct cases arrive not as arrests but as applications for a criminal complaint, which means the case starts with a clerk-magistrate hearing. That hearing is private, it happens before any record is created, and a denied application ends the matter permanently. No complaint, no arraignment, no CORI entry. Our results page includes recent examples, including a resisting arrest and disorderly conduct application denied in full at BMC Central and a disorderly conduct case dismissed before arraignment at BMC Brighton.

When the case begins with an arrest instead, the same goals apply on a faster clock. A dismissal before arraignment prevents the CORI entry. After arraignment, the fight moves to the merits, where the narrowness of both statutes and the availability of body camera footage give the defense real leverage.

What to Do if You Are Charged

Say nothing about the incident to anyone, including on social media. If you received a show cause notice in the mail, do not ignore it and do not attend the hearing without counsel, because the hearing is winnable and unrepresented people routinely talk their way into complaints. If you were arrested, the first days matter most. Our guide on what to do in the first 24 hours after a Massachusetts arrest covers the immediate steps. For students, remember that the university process is separate from the criminal case and both need attention from the start.

Serpa Law Office has defended disorderly conduct and resisting arrest cases across Massachusetts for three decades. The full practice page is here, Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest in Massachusetts, and answers to common questions are collected in the Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest FAQs. Contact Serpa Law Office at 617.936.0201 for a confidential consultation.