Gillman Roddy Long v. United States

SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge.

Gillman Roddy Long asks us to find his trial counsel ineffective for failing to venture into uncharted territory—territory that this court, and the Supreme Court, have still yet to traverse. We decline to do so, and we affirm the district court 1 in denying his ineffective assistance of counsel claim filed under 28 U.S.C § 2255.

I

We previously saw the parties on direct appeal, United States v. Long, 721 F.3d 920 (8th Cir. 2013), and thus highlight only the facts salient to our decision here. In July 2009, Long was indicted on two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a…