[627]*627SUHRHEINRICH, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which BOGGS, J., joined. CLAY, J. (pp. 634-641), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
OPINION
SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.
Defendant-Appellant Jeffrey Glenn Galloway appeals from the judgment entered on February 27, 2001, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, of conviction by jury and sentence imposed on three counts arising out of his importation and possession of ecsta-cy in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846, and 21 U.S.C. § 952.1
Galloway raises three issues on appeal. First, he claims the district court erred when it admitted into evidence statements made by Galloway to a United States Customs Inspector, in violation of Galloway’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Second, Galloway claims he is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor made improper remarks during final argument. Third, Galloway claims his counsel was ineffective because his counsel elicited testimony from Galloway’s co-conspirator which tended to inculpate Galloway, since it showed that he generally promotes drug use.2
We deny Galloway’s claim and affirm on all issues. First and foremost, we hold that Miranda is inapplicable because a secondary customs inspection is a routine, non-custodial detention. Second, the prosecutor’s statements, although improper, do not warrant a new trial in the face of the other overwhelming evidence. Finally, ineffective assistance of counsel claims are generally not heard on direct appeal, and the record here is insufficient to permit us to hear the claim.
I. Facts
On January 19, 2000, a narcotics canine alerted on a bag at the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport in Covington, belonging to Galloway’s co-defendant, Kristie Kirsch, who had arrived with Galloway on a flight from Brussels, Belgium. Once Kirsch identified the bag, customs inspectors removed both her and Galloway.
Customs inspector Jeffrey Vaughn took Defendants to a secondary inspection area, pursuant to the U.S. Customs Service’s authority to search travelers under 19 U.S.C. § 1582.3 Vaughn began his inspection by informing Defendants that a canine had alerted on Kirseh’s bag. At this time, Vaughn neither placed Defendants under arrest, nor read them their Miranda rights.
Vaughn began his questioning by asking Kirsch why she thought the canine had hit on her bag. She responded that it was because of “those cafes,” indicating “dope smoking cafes,” more commonly referred to as hash bars. As he searched Defendants’ bags, Vaughn turned his questioning to Galloway, and asked him a series of questions, each revolving around the places he had been in Europe. Specifical[628]*628ly, Vaughn was trying to ascertain whether Galloway and Kirsch had been to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In response to these questions, Galloway made several statements denying he had been to Amsterdam.
After concluding his questioning of Galloway, Vaughn asked Kirsch for her coat, which he testified felt rather heavy when he picked it up. He removed the lining and found a number of pills, later identified to be the drug ecstacy. Vaughn ceased his questioning and placed Defendants under arrest for importation and possession of an illegal substance.
On May 8, 2000, Galloway filed a motion to suppress the statements he had made to Vaughn at secondary inspection, because they were obtained without proper Miranda warnings. Basically, the statements amounted to Galloway denying he had ever been to the Netherlands, even when faced with evidence to the contrary found in his bag, such as Dutch money, merchandise bearing an Amsterdam logo, and train tickets from Brussels to Amsterdam.
The district court denied the motion on September 28, 2000, finding that Miranda warnings were not required. The judge reasoned that the secondary inspection was a routine customs inquiry, and as such, not entitled to Miranda protections under United States v. Ozuna, 170 F.3d 654 (6th Cir.1999).
Galloway proceeded to jury trial, where Galloway’s false denial of traveling to Amsterdam was introduced as evidence of his guilt. Kirsch testified against him in exchange for concessions from the Government.4 Specifically, Kirsch testified that Galloway had hired her as a mule to carry the ecstacy from Amsterdam.5 Galloway’s response was that Kirsch was his girlfriend and that he had no knowledge of the drugs she was carrying. The jury convicted Galloway on all three counts and he was sentenced to ninety-seven months.
Galloway filed a timely notice of appeal on February 27, 2001, the same day the judgment was imposed, and this matter is properly before this Court.
II. Galloway’s Miranda Rights
We review a district court’s ruling on a motion to suppress through a mixed standard of review. Findings of fact supporting the court’s decision are reversed only if they are clearly erroneous. The court’s final determination as to the reasonableness of the search is a question of law reviewed de novo. United States v. Harris, 255 F.3d 288, 291 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 966, 122 S.Ct. 378, 151 L.Ed.2d 288 (2001); Knox County Educ. Ass’n v. Knox County Bd. of Educ., 158 F.3d 361, 371 (6th Cir.1998). When the district court has denied the motion to suppress, we review all evidence in a light most favorable to the Government. United States v. Garza, 10 F.3d 1241, 1245 (6th Cir.1993).
Galloway claims that any statements made by him to Vaughn should be suppressed because they were obtained in violation of Miranda. Miranda warnings [629]*629are necessary only if the defendant is subjected to a “custodial interrogation.” Miranda, 384 U.S. at 477, 86 S.Ct. 1602. Accordingly, Galloway argues that he was “in custody” when Vaughn was performing the secondary inspection.
Whether a person is in custody for Miranda purposes is determined by neither the perception of the defendant nor of the police. It is determined by the objective perception of a reasonable man in the defendant’s shoes. Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 323, 114 S.Ct. 1526, 128 L.Ed.2d 293 (1994). The standard is perhaps best stated another way: “The test must be not what the defendant himself, as a possessor of drugs at the time of his detention, thought, but what a reasonable man, innocent of any crime, would have thought had he been in the defendant’s shoes.” United States v. McKethan, 247 F.Supp. 324, 328 (1965) (emphasis added); see also Coates v. United States,
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[627]*627SUHRHEINRICH, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which BOGGS, J., joined. CLAY, J. (pp. 634-641), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
OPINION
SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.
Defendant-Appellant Jeffrey Glenn Galloway appeals from the judgment entered on February 27, 2001, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, of conviction by jury and sentence imposed on three counts arising out of his importation and possession of ecsta-cy in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846, and 21 U.S.C. § 952.1
Galloway raises three issues on appeal. First, he claims the district court erred when it admitted into evidence statements made by Galloway to a United States Customs Inspector, in violation of Galloway’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Second, Galloway claims he is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor made improper remarks during final argument. Third, Galloway claims his counsel was ineffective because his counsel elicited testimony from Galloway’s co-conspirator which tended to inculpate Galloway, since it showed that he generally promotes drug use.2
We deny Galloway’s claim and affirm on all issues. First and foremost, we hold that Miranda is inapplicable because a secondary customs inspection is a routine, non-custodial detention. Second, the prosecutor’s statements, although improper, do not warrant a new trial in the face of the other overwhelming evidence. Finally, ineffective assistance of counsel claims are generally not heard on direct appeal, and the record here is insufficient to permit us to hear the claim.
I. Facts
On January 19, 2000, a narcotics canine alerted on a bag at the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport in Covington, belonging to Galloway’s co-defendant, Kristie Kirsch, who had arrived with Galloway on a flight from Brussels, Belgium. Once Kirsch identified the bag, customs inspectors removed both her and Galloway.
Customs inspector Jeffrey Vaughn took Defendants to a secondary inspection area, pursuant to the U.S. Customs Service’s authority to search travelers under 19 U.S.C. § 1582.3 Vaughn began his inspection by informing Defendants that a canine had alerted on Kirseh’s bag. At this time, Vaughn neither placed Defendants under arrest, nor read them their Miranda rights.
Vaughn began his questioning by asking Kirsch why she thought the canine had hit on her bag. She responded that it was because of “those cafes,” indicating “dope smoking cafes,” more commonly referred to as hash bars. As he searched Defendants’ bags, Vaughn turned his questioning to Galloway, and asked him a series of questions, each revolving around the places he had been in Europe. Specifical[628]*628ly, Vaughn was trying to ascertain whether Galloway and Kirsch had been to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In response to these questions, Galloway made several statements denying he had been to Amsterdam.
After concluding his questioning of Galloway, Vaughn asked Kirsch for her coat, which he testified felt rather heavy when he picked it up. He removed the lining and found a number of pills, later identified to be the drug ecstacy. Vaughn ceased his questioning and placed Defendants under arrest for importation and possession of an illegal substance.
On May 8, 2000, Galloway filed a motion to suppress the statements he had made to Vaughn at secondary inspection, because they were obtained without proper Miranda warnings. Basically, the statements amounted to Galloway denying he had ever been to the Netherlands, even when faced with evidence to the contrary found in his bag, such as Dutch money, merchandise bearing an Amsterdam logo, and train tickets from Brussels to Amsterdam.
The district court denied the motion on September 28, 2000, finding that Miranda warnings were not required. The judge reasoned that the secondary inspection was a routine customs inquiry, and as such, not entitled to Miranda protections under United States v. Ozuna, 170 F.3d 654 (6th Cir.1999).
Galloway proceeded to jury trial, where Galloway’s false denial of traveling to Amsterdam was introduced as evidence of his guilt. Kirsch testified against him in exchange for concessions from the Government.4 Specifically, Kirsch testified that Galloway had hired her as a mule to carry the ecstacy from Amsterdam.5 Galloway’s response was that Kirsch was his girlfriend and that he had no knowledge of the drugs she was carrying. The jury convicted Galloway on all three counts and he was sentenced to ninety-seven months.
Galloway filed a timely notice of appeal on February 27, 2001, the same day the judgment was imposed, and this matter is properly before this Court.
II. Galloway’s Miranda Rights
We review a district court’s ruling on a motion to suppress through a mixed standard of review. Findings of fact supporting the court’s decision are reversed only if they are clearly erroneous. The court’s final determination as to the reasonableness of the search is a question of law reviewed de novo. United States v. Harris, 255 F.3d 288, 291 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 966, 122 S.Ct. 378, 151 L.Ed.2d 288 (2001); Knox County Educ. Ass’n v. Knox County Bd. of Educ., 158 F.3d 361, 371 (6th Cir.1998). When the district court has denied the motion to suppress, we review all evidence in a light most favorable to the Government. United States v. Garza, 10 F.3d 1241, 1245 (6th Cir.1993).
Galloway claims that any statements made by him to Vaughn should be suppressed because they were obtained in violation of Miranda. Miranda warnings [629]*629are necessary only if the defendant is subjected to a “custodial interrogation.” Miranda, 384 U.S. at 477, 86 S.Ct. 1602. Accordingly, Galloway argues that he was “in custody” when Vaughn was performing the secondary inspection.
Whether a person is in custody for Miranda purposes is determined by neither the perception of the defendant nor of the police. It is determined by the objective perception of a reasonable man in the defendant’s shoes. Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318, 323, 114 S.Ct. 1526, 128 L.Ed.2d 293 (1994). The standard is perhaps best stated another way: “The test must be not what the defendant himself, as a possessor of drugs at the time of his detention, thought, but what a reasonable man, innocent of any crime, would have thought had he been in the defendant’s shoes.” United States v. McKethan, 247 F.Supp. 324, 328 (1965) (emphasis added); see also Coates v. United States, 413 F.2d 371, 373 (D.C.Cir.1969); United States v. Coleman, 450 F.Supp. 433, 439 (E.D.Mich.1978). We believe the standard is more accurately stated this way because a reasonable guilty person will always perceive his situation as coercive.
First, it is necessary to explain the customs procedures to which Galloway was subject. According to the U.S. Customs Service, every passenger who arrives in the United States on an international flight, whether he is a United States citizen, alien, or foreign national, is subject to cursory screening (primary inspection). The passenger is usually asked questions regarding his trip, including the countries he has visited, any merchandise he has brought back, and the value of such merchandise. His answers are checked against his customs declaration form, and usually he is sent on his way. However, a portion of travelers are held over for secondary inspection. An inspector will recommend a traveler for secondary inspection for several reasons—for instance, if the traveler is suspected of carrying narcotics. Moreover, a secondary inspection may be ordered if the inspector suspects a traveler owes customs duties, or has undeclared, commercial, or prohibited merchandise. Furthermore, the U.S. Customs Service has developed a program called Compliance Examination (COMPEX), in which it randomly selects additional travelers for secondary inspection based on no suspicion whatsoever. During secondary inspection, the passenger is asked more detailed questions about his trip and may have his bag and body searched. The procedure lasts a few minutes and if nothing is found, the traveler is free to go. See U.S. Customs Servioe, Why U.S. Customs Conducts Examinations, at http:// wuyw. customs.ustreas.gov/travel/examina-tions.htm [hereinafter Customs Website ].
Under 19 U.S.C. § 1582, the U.S. Customs Service has the authority to subject every international traveler to a secondary inspection, but it does not do so because resources are limited. See Customs Website. As opposed to jailhouse interrogations and other situations we have held custodial, there is no probable cause required for the Customs Service to detain a traveler for a secondary inspection. See 19 U.S.C. § 1582; cf. Miranda, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (involving defendants already placed under arrest). Its power to search is vested in the voluntariness of the traveler’s attempt to re-enter the country. United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606, 619, 97 S.Ct. 1972, 52 L.Ed.2d 617 (1977); see also United States v. Scheer, 600 F.2d 5, 6 (1979). “[E]vents which might be enough to signal ‘custody’ away from the border will not be enough to establish ‘custody’ in the context of entry into the country.” United States [630]*630v. Moya, 74 F.3d 1117, 1120 (11th Cir.1996).
We have held that routine customs inspections are non-custodial and do not require the reading of Miranda rights. In United States v. Ozuna, 170 F.3d 654 (6th Cir.1999), at a routine Canadian border stop, inspectors asked the defendant questions in an attempt to determine his identity. Ozuna lied and presented a false identity. A search of the defendant ultimately produced some drugs, and the statements Ozuna had made were introduced against him. We held the statements admissible because a primary customs inspection is not custodial since all travelers are subject to the same treatment and the reasonable man views it as a cursory requirement of re-entering the country. Id. at 659.
The district court found that Ozuna controls here. However, Galloway argues that Ozuna applies only to primary customs inspections, and does not speak to more particularized secondary inspections like the one to which Galloway was subjected. Galloway argues that the accusatorial and focused nature of a secondary inspection goes well beyond what the reasonable traveler would consider routine or non-custodial. However, the fact that an interrogation is not random, but focused on a particular defendant, does not automatically render it custodial. See Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 494, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977) (per curiam) (stating “[n]or is the requirement of warnings to be imposed simply because ... the questioned person is one whom the police suspect”); Beckwith v. United States, 425 U.S. 341, 346-47, 96 S.Ct. 1612, 48 L.Ed.2d 1 (1976) (stating it “was the compulsive aspect of custodial interrogation, and not the strength or content of the government’s suspicions at the time the questioning was conducted, which led the Court to impose the Miranda requirements with regard to custodial questioning”). The totality of the circumstances must be examined to determine whether there was a “formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement of the degree associated with a formal arrest.” Thompson v. Keohane, 516 U.S. 99, 112, 116 S.Ct. 457, 133 L.Ed.2d 383 (1995).
We find no distinction between primary and secondary inspections anywhere in the customs statutes or their regulations. This distinction is merely a functional aspect of the particular nomenclature used by the U.S. Customs Service. As evidenced by the Customs Service’s own business practices, the secondary inspection is no less a matter of course and no less routine than the primary inspection. Accordingly, we see no reason not to extend the rule in Ozuna to apply to all customary border stops, primary or secondary.
Regardless, Galloway argues that secondary inspection, as it is applied, is coercive because the traveler is not free to leave. However, although we had once stated the Miranda standard as being whether a defendant feels he is free to go, see United States v. Salvo, 133 F.3d 943, 948 (6th Cir.1998), Ozuna demonstrates that this standard is not correct. There, we held that primary inspections are not custodial, although the traveler is not free to go. Ozuna, 170 F.3d at 659.
Even if a secondary inspection in general is not custodial, Galloway claims that his particular detention was, because the circumstances surrounding his inspection made it akin to an arrest. However, the questions Vaughn asked Galloway were indicative of a routine customs inquiry, no different than those that would have been asked at primary inspection. Vaughn asked, in order:
(1) To which countries did you travel?
(2) Did you go to Germany, Amsterdam, or Holland?
[631]*631(3) If you haven’t been to Holland, why do you have guilders? 6
(4) What did you purchase on your trip?
(5) Is this sweatshirt with “Amsterdam” written across the front the one you purchased?
(6) If you were not in Holland, then why are there train tickets from Brussels to Amsterdam in your bag?
We find nothing coercive about this line of questioning. Moreover, Galloway was standing the entire time and in plain view of other travelers, and not taken to a room or another part of the airport.
We further find no problem with the length of Galloway’s detention. First, the detention was only seven to ten minutes in duration. This seven to ten minutes included not only Vaughn’s questioning of Galloway, but of Kirsch as well. Regardless, even if the detention had been longer, we held in Ozuna that a defendant loses his expectation of brevity when he prolongs his non-custodial detention by lying. Ozuna, 170 F.3d at 659. Ozuna lied to customs inspectors about his identity, thereby extending the duration of his detention, while they ascertained his identity. Likewise, Galloway lied to Vaughn about the countries he had visited, thereby exposing himself to the possibility of a longer detention while inspectors searched for the truth.
Galloway lastly argues that his particular inspection was custodial because it was initiated by a canine alert. The Ninth Circuit has addressed this issue and found that the existence of probable cause is the determining factor as to when Miranda rights are needed at a secondary customs inspection:
We hold that the warning required in Miranda need not be given to one who is entering the United States unless and until the questioning agents have probable cause to believe that the person questioned has committed an offense, or the person questioned has been arrested, whether with or without probable cause. It is at that point, in border cases, that the investigation has “focused” in the Miranda sense.
Chavez-Martinez v. United States, 407 F.2d 535, 539 (9th Cir.1969). We also believe this to be the proper standard. A canine alert, however, does not constitute probable cause in a completely random setting, such as an airport, because of its questionable accuracy. United States v. Cook, 904 F.2d 37, 1990 WL 70703, at *5 (6th Cir.1990) (per curiam) (citing United States v. Fernandez, 772 F.2d 495, 498 n. 2 (9th Cir.1985)) (stating that “the mere fact that a dog has ‘hit’ on a piece of baggage or cargo does not, in the absence of any factors supporting its reliability, establish probable cause”). Customs officials could not have arrested Galloway solely on the basis of the canine alert, absent a finding of drugs. Vaughn discontinued the questioning when he found ecstacy in Kirsch’s coat. We believe that this is when probable cause existed for an arrest. The Defendants were then arrested and properly read their Miranda rights.
Accordingly, even though Galloway may have personally been anxious about his secondary inspection in light of the fact that he was smuggling some 10,000 pills of ecstacy, we find that a reasonable man would have considered it rather routine airport security procedures, not at all akin to an arrest. If we were to require Miranda warnings before the existence of probable cause, we would be requiring every customs inspector to read Miranda [632]*632rights to each of the thousands of travelers subjected to primary or secondary inspection, even though the detention is often initiated by nothing, more than the origin of the traveler’s flight, if not totally at random.
In sum, we find that the nature of the secondary customs inspection is uncoercive and non-custodial, and remains such unless and until probable cause exists. The vast majority of inspections lead to nothing, even when initiated by a canine alert. The inspector asks routine questions, performs a routine bag and body search and usually sends the traveler on his way. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the district court and find there was no Miranda violation.
III. Prosecutorial Misconduct
Next, Galloway claims he is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor made improper statements during his closing argument. Galloway’s principal defense throughout his trial was that Kirsch acted alone in carrying the ecstacy into the United States; and that she was not merely Galloway’s mule as she had testified. Galloway attempted to refute Kirsch’s assertion that she was a mule by intimating, through cross-examination of Government witnesses, that had Kirsch been a mule, he would not have accompanied her on the flight and through customs. Instead, he would have sent her alone or watched from a distance. In its closing argument, Government counsel attempted to refute this defense, stating:
I have tried several cases myself where we see the mule term, and we have a defendant who claims he or she is a mule, and I have had several cases where, kind of like the bodyguard scenario, where the individual who is responsible for the drugs travels with the individual carrying the drugs.
Trial, Nov. 28, 2000 at Tr. 65. Galloway claims this statement is improper because the prosecutor injected his own personal knowledge into the case, and he therefore is entitled to a new trial.
When reviewing a claim of prosecutorial misconduct based on improper statements, we employ a two-part test. United States v. Carroll, 26 F.3d 1380, 1387 (6th Cir.1994). The first part of the test is to determine whether the remarks were indeed improper. See United States v. Francis, 170 F.3d 546, 549 (6th Cir.1999); United States v. Krebs, 788 F.2d 1166, 1177 (6th Cir.1986). If they were improper, we must determine if the remarks were flagrant and warrant reversal. Francis, 170 F.3d at 549 (citing Carroll, 26 F.3d at 1388). There are four factors that we utilize to determine if an improper statement was flagrant: 1) whether the statements tended to mislead the jury and prejudice the defendant; 2) whether the statements were isolated or pervasive; 3) whether the statements were deliberately placed before the jury; and 4) whether the evidence against the accused is otherwise strong. See Francis, 170 F.3d at 549-50; Carroll, 26 F.3d at 1385 (citing United States v. Leon, 534 F.2d 667, 679 (6th Cir.1976)). None of these factors is dispositive, but even if we do find the improper statement was not flagrant, we will nonetheless reverse a conviction upon a determination that: 1) the proof of the defendant’s guilt is not overwhelming; 2) the defense objected to the statements; and 3) the trial judge did not cure the impropriety through an admonishment to the jury. Francis, 170 F.3d at 550; Carroll, 26 F.3d at 1385-86 (citing United States v. Bess, 593 F.2d 749, 757 (6th Cir.1979)).
The only allegation of misconduct before us is the Government’s statement during closing arguments. Since a prosecutor cannot express his personal [633]*633opinions before the jury, his statement tending to give credence to Kirsch’s recitation was necessarily improper. See, e.g., Gall v. Parker, 231 F.3d 265, 312 (6th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 533 U.S. 941, 121 S.Ct. 2577, 150 L.Ed.2d 739 (2001).
Upon finding that the statement was improper, we must determine whether the statement was flagrant. In utilizing the Leon balancing test, we find the prosecutor’s statement was isolated in nature. Galloway raises only one issue of prosecutorial misconduct, and does not allege that the trial was riddled with improper statements. Cf. Gall, 231 F.3d at 312 (stating how prosecutorial misconduct was pervasive at all stages of trial). Moreover, we find no evidence - that the statement was deliberate, and we find that it was not made with intent to prejudice the defendant. See Carroll, 26 F.3d at 1389-90 (stating that remark was not deliberate when no evidence existed to indicate otherwise). Accordingly, we find the improper remark was not flagrant.
Under Bess, we will reverse the conviction only if: 1) the other evidence is not overwhelming; 2) Galloway objected at trial; and 3) there was no curative admonishment by the judge. See Bess, 593 F.2d at 757. Galloway objected immediately after the prosecutor’s statement and the judge sustained the objection, stating: “Sustained. No evidence. Move on.” Galloway did not ask for further instruction. We have held that for a curative admonishment to be sufficient, it must be swift and in proportion to the potential harm. See United States v. Solivan, 937 F.2d 1146, 1157 (6th Cir.1991) (indicating that the timing of the admonition is more important than the firmness); see also Bess, 593 F.2d at 757. Here, the judge expressed disapproval of the prosecutor’s statement immediately upon the objection. Cf. Solivan, 937 F.2d at 1157 (holding that an admonition that came after a twenty minute break was not swift enough for curative instruction to be sufficient because improper statement had been “etched in granite” in the jurors’ minds). Moreover, we find his admonition was sufficiently firm to ameliorate the non-flagrant conduct. Cf. id. Accordingly, we hold this admonition, although brief, satisfies the curative instruction requirement under Bess.
Moreover, even without a curative instruction, we find the requirements of Bess are satisfied because the other evidence against Galloway was overwhelming. Galloway paid cash for everything — the airfare, the hotel, and the train — for both himself and Kirsch. Furthermore, he used two travel agents in planning the trip, paying for all arrangements in cash, yet asking each travel agent to indicate that he had paid by check. Also, he had possession of Kirsch’s passport, baggage claim stub, and tickets upon their arrival in Cincinnati. Lastly, Galloway repeatedly lied about the fact that he had been to Amsterdam. In total, the evidence against Galloway, notwithstanding the prosecutor’s improper statement, is vast.
Accordingly, we find that the prosecutor’s statement, though improper, does not warrant a reversal of the conviction and a new trial.
IV. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Next, Galloway claims his counsel was ineffective. He asserts that his counsel caused him prejudice when he questioned Kirsch about Galloway’s tattoo because it tended to indicate that Galloway advocates the use of drugs.7
[634]*634We have held that ineffective assistance of counsel claims are generally not heard on direct review. See United States v. Shabazz, 263 F.3d 603, 612 (2001); United States v. Jackson, 181 F.3d 740, 747 (6th Cir.1999). Such issues are usually heard only on habeas petitions under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. United States v. Long, 190 F.3d 471, 478 (6th Cir.1999). We generally do not hear such claims on direct review because, for the most part, the record beforé us will be insufficient to enable us to entertain the claim, because a successful claim necessarily requires a showing of prejudice, as enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). United States v. Aguwa, 123 F.3d 418, 423 (6th Cir.1997). We find the record in this case no different.
Accordingly, we decline to address the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Y. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we uphold the decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and AFFIRM Galloway’s conviction and sentence.