Thomas Clifford McGowan v. United States

EER CURIAM:

Thomas Clifford McGowan was convicted of unlawfully possessing a sawed-off shotgun in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and 5871. He took no direct appeal from that conviction. He has petitioned the court below for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, contending that he requested and paid his retained attorney to appeal his conviction, but the attorney had failed to do so. McGowan argued that in the circumstances his retained counsel’s failure to appeal constituted a deprivation of his constitutional rights to adequate and competent representation. After an evidentiary hearing on…