Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-89-06347/USCOURTS-ca10-89-06347-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
James Houston Phillips
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

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United States Co~rt ~£ Appeals 

Tenth Cu:cmt 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

MAR 211990 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

v. 

JAMES HOUSTON PHILLIPS, 

Defendant-Appellant. 

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ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

No. 89-6347 

(D.C. No. CR-87-245-T) 

(W.D. Oklahoma) 

Before LOGAN, MOORE, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. 

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. 

James Houston Phillips was convicted as a felon in possession 

of a firearm that had been shipped in interstate commerce, in 

violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(l), and he was given an enhanced 

sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 u.s.c. 

§ 924(e)(l). After this court affirmed his conviction on direct 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 89-6347 Document: 01019966453 Date Filed: 03/21/1990 Page: 1 
appeal, United States v. Phillips, No. 88-1202 (10th Cir. Nov. 22, 

1988), he commenced this action under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 alleging 

that his conviction should be overturned for reasons that were not 

raised in the direct appeal. The district court denied relief. 

On appeal Phillips asserts that his appellate counsel was 

constitutionally ineffective because he failed to raise certain 

grounds in the appeal, including whether there was substantial 

evidence to support the verdict. He also alleges the lawyer 

should have complained of the trial court's error in its statement 

of the standard to be applied, in permitting cross-examination of 

the defendant concerning his own prior felony convictions, in 

failing to charge the jury adequately on need for an interstate 

commerce connection with the weapon, in permitting the 

government's expert witness to testify about the interstate travel 

of the weapon, in refusing to instruct on a lesser-included 

offense, and in not adequately instructing on Phillips' defense. 

We have examined those contentions and agree with the district 

court that counsel's actions were not erroneous, and there is no 

reasonable probability that the outcome of the appeal would have 

been different had these grounds been raised. See Strickland v. 

Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694 (1984). 

Phillips states, both in connection with his allegations of 

inadequacy of appellate counsel and in his argument for reversal, 

that the district court unconstitutionally enhanced his sentence 

under the Armed Career Criminal Act because the government did not 

prove the predicate prior felonies. This argument is groundless. 

At sentencing the government introduced properly certified copies 

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Appellate Case: 89-6347 Document: 01019966453 Date Filed: 03/21/1990 Page: 2 
of the state court documents showing that a James Houston Phillips 

had been convicted of three felony crimes. Phillips had been 

notified of the government's intention to use those documents 

against him at sentencing, and he offered no objection to either 

the presentence report or to the introduction of those documents. 

While it is true that "the United States does not discharge its 

burden of proving a prior conviction by merely introducing court 

records pertaining to a person of the same or similar name, and 

that such record must be supported by some independent evidence 

tending to support its trustworthiness," Shaw v. Johnson, 786 F.2d 

993, 999 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 843 (1986), Phillips 

himself admitted that he was convicted of the prior felonies that 

were relied upon by the government. III R. 40-41, 49-51. 

AFFIRMED. 

The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

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Entered for the Court 

James K. Logan 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 89-6347 Document: 01019966453 Date Filed: 03/21/1990 Page: 3