Case ID: f-appx_518/html/0847-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fayad Bassam AZZAM, Defendant-Appellant, Julia Beatriz Castro, Defendant.
    No. 12-12642
    Non-Argument Calendar.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
    May 14, 2013.
    Steven E. Butler, Kenyen Ray Brown, Sean P. Costello, Donna Barrow Dobbins, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mobile, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
    Thomas Jefferson Deen, III, T. Jefferson Deen, III, Fayad Bassam Azzam, Mobile, AL, for Defendant-Appellant.
    
      Julia Beatrice Castro, Mobile, AL, pro se.
    Before: PRYOR, MARTIN and FAY, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM:

Fayad Bassam Azzam appeals his convictions for conspiring to marry to evade immigration laws, 18 U.S.C. § 371, and marrying to evade the immigration laws, 8 U.S.C. § 1325(c). Azzam argues that his trial counsel was ineffective for waiting until after trial to investigate potential witnesses and obtain documents, and introducing the evidence belatedly in support of Azzam’s motion for a new trial. Because the district court did not consider this argument and develop a record regarding the performance of trial counsel, we decline to consider Azzam’s claim of ineffective assistance for the first time on direct appeal. See United States v. Bender, 290 F.3d 1279, 1284 (11th Cir.2002). Azzam can present his argument in a postconviction motion. 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

We AFFIRM Azzam’s convictions.