Donald Phillips v. Randy White

OPINION

COLE, Chief Judge.

A Kentucky jury .convicted Donald Phillips of two counts of first-degree murder. The jury considered the death penalty, but recommended life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for twenty-five years, which the judge imposed. For over six years, Phillips sought post-conviction relief in state trial court based on ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. But no state court ever adjudicated the claim.

Phillips sought habeas corpus relief in federal district court, which dismissed his petition. The court found that the Antiter-rorism and Effective Death…