United States v. Phillips

I respectfully dissent.

30. I would hold that trial defense counsel was ineffective in the sentencing portion of the trial in failing to provide the Chaplain’s Handbook and the Wiccan Bible after being given 48 hours by the judge to do so. Moreover, I would find that Specialist Phillips was prejudiced by counsel’s incompetence because the military judge refused to find that deprivation of Wiccan religious materials amounted to pre-trial punishment. Having found that the defense counsel was ineffective here and that appellant was prejudiced by this, I would give relief under Strickland v.…