Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
No. 2:20-cr-00182-1—Algenon L. Marbley, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: March 10, 2022
Before: BATCHELDER, NALBANDIAN, and READLER, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Song Guo Zheng lied on several applications for
National Institute of Health (NIH) funding while employed at some of the country’s largest
universities. Zheng pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining this federal funding, but on appeal
argues that his trial counsel was ineffective by not seeking a downward variance at sentencing
given his immigration status. Generally, however, we decline to review ineffective-assistance
claims for the first time on direct appeal because the record is inadequate to establish any error.
Seeing no reason to depart from this practice, we DISMISS Zheng’s ineffective-assistance
claim. |