Commonwealth v. Degennaro

The defendant, Peter DeGennaro, appeals from an order denying his motion for new trial. The defendant argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel from his appellate attorney in his direct appeal, Commonwealth v. DeGennaro, 84 Mass. App. Ct. 420 (2013) (DeGennaro I ). The defendant specifically contends that his attorney failed to argue that applying a "novel construction" of the fiduciary embezzlement statute, G. L. c. 266, § 57, to the defendant would be an ex post facto application of the criminal statute, thereby violating the defendant's due process rights. We affirm.

The…