United States v. Charles Bush ( 2010 )

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
File Name: 10a0058n.06
No. 08-5859
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
FILED
Jan 28, 2010
United States of America, ) LEONARD GREEN, Clerk
)
Plaintiff-Appellee, )
)
v. ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
) THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF
Charles Edward Bush, ) TENNESSEE
)
Defendant-Appellant. )
Before: SILER, ROGERS, and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM. Charles Edward Bush, who is serving a sentence of 33 months’
imprisonment as a result of his guilty plea to one count of wire fraud, raises an ineffective assistance
of counsel claim on direct appeal. Bush asserts in an affidavit that he pled guilty based on
information that he would not receive a term of imprisonment. The affidavit does not explicitly state
the source of this information; however, Bush contends on appeal that his guilty plea was not
knowingly, voluntarily, or intelligently entered into because he was misled by the affirmative
misstatements of his trial counsel that, if he pled guilty, he would only receive a probationary
sentence.
We do not normally entertain claims of ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal.
See United States v. Franklin, 415 F.3d 537, 555 (6th Cir. 2005) (“[I]t is our general practice not to
consider ineffective assistance claims on direct appeal because they are better left to a
No. 08-5859
United States v. Bush
post-conviction motion to vacate under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.”). Because “a defendant must make more
than merely speculative assertions,” Bowen v. Foltz, 763 F.2d 191, 194 (6th Cir. 1985), and because
the record has not been sufficiently developed to assess the merits of Bush’s allegations, we decline
to consider the merits of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. See United States v. Allison, 59
F.3d 43, 47 (6th Cir. 1995). The district court is the better forum for initial review of this claim in
a post-conviction motion to vacate under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Franklin, 415 F.3d at 555. Accordingly,
we affirm Bush’s sentence and conviction without prejudice.
AFFIRMED.
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