United States of America v. Hammaduzzaman Syed

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 22-2657
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United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Hammaduzzaman Syed
Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Nebraska - Omaha
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Submitted: May 8, 2023
Filed: August 1, 2023
[Unpublished]
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Before SHEPHERD, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Hammaduzzaman Syed tried to pay a fifteen-year-old girl he met online for
sex, but it turned out he was chatting with an undercover officer. A jury found him
guilty of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, see 18 U.S.C. § 1594(a), and the

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district court1 sentenced him to 120 months in prison. On appeal, Syed’s only
argument is that counsel was ineffective for failing to request an entrapment
instruction and object at various points during trial. See Strickland v. Washington,
466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984).
What we lack at this point, however, is a “properly developed record” to
evaluate the claim. United States v. Ramirez-Hernandez, 449 F.3d 824, 827 (8th
Cir. 2006). The trial record does not provide enough information, see Massaro v.
United States, 538 U.S. 500, 504–05 (2003) (noting that the trial record “will not
disclose the facts necessary to decide” if counsel was ineffective), so the claim will
have to be litigated, if at all, in a motion brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. See
Ramirez-Hernandez, 449 F.3d at 826–27 (explaining that this type of claim is
“usually best litigated in collateral proceedings”). We accordingly dismiss the
appeal.
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1 The Honorable Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., Chief Judge, United States District
Court for the District of Nebraska.

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