United States v. Jacquel Searles

Case: 17-11945 Date Filed: 10/19/2017 Page: 1 of 2 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-11945 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 4:16-cr-00267-WTM-GRS-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JACQUEL SEARLES, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ________________________ (October 19, 2017) Before WLLIAM PRYOR, JORDAN and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Jacquel Searles appeals his conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), 924(e). Searles argues that his Case: 17-11945 Date Filed: 10/19/2017 Page: 2 of 2 trial counsel was ineffective for misadvising him that his prior convictions for burglary would not be used to enhance his sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act. See id. § 924(e). Because the district court did not have an opportunity to consider this argument and develop a record regarding trial counsel’s performance, we decline to consider Searles’s argument for the first time on direct appeal. See United States v. Puentes-Hurtado, 794 F.3d 1278, 1285 (11th Cir. 2015). Searles can raise his argument in a postconviction motion. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255. We AFFIRM Searles’s conviction. 2