Phillip Brown v. Cindi Curtin

AMENDED OPINION

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

Phillip Brown, a Michigan prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Following a jury trial in state court, Brown Was convicted of first-degree murder and felonious assault. The district court granted a certificate of ap-pealability (COA) on Brown’s claims related to a note from the trial judge to the jury and the exclusion of evidence of a state witness’s pending criminal charges. We expanded the COA to include Brown’s claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.…