United States v. Curtis Phillips

── United States v. Curtis Phillips ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: April 23, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0186n.06 Case No. 25-5582 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED Apr 23, 2026 ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) ON APPEAL FROM THE v. ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE EASTERN CURTIS J. PHILLIPS, ) DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY Defendant-Appellant. ) ) OPINION Before: COLE, GRIFFIN, and READLER, Circuit Judges. COLE, Circuit Judge. Curtis J. Phillips challenges the procedural reasonableness of his term of 360 months’ imprisonment, arguing that the district court erred in calculating the converted drug weight attributable to him and in applying the dangerous weapon enhancement. For the following reasons, we affirm. I. Between 2023 and 2024, Phillips had multiple encounters with law enforcement. On March 17, 2023, Lee County Sheriff’s officers found Phillips unconscious in a car with 1,115.60 grams of pure methamphetamine, 48.59 grams of fentanyl, scales, and approximately $8,000 in cash. Less than three weeks later, on April 4, 2023, Lee County Sheriff’s officers responded to a reported overdose and again found Phillips unresponsive, this time with multiple firearms nearby, as well as 734.80 grams of pure methamphetamine. On December 28, 2023, the Owsley County Sheriff stopped Phillips after observing him improperly towing a vehicle. During a subsequent No. 25-5582, United States v. Phillips search, she uncovered needles, a metal container with drug residue, scales, and a thermos containing 95.894 grams of methamphetamine. On June 18, 2024, the Owsley County Sheriff, who was later joined by a Kentucky State Trooper, found Phillips unconscious in another vehicle. They retrieved multiple firearms, drug paraphernalia, 697.9 grams of methamphetamine, 21.626 grams of fentanyl, 22.573 grams of cocaine, and $2,359 in cash. Ten days later, on June 28, a Madison County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle where Phillips was a passenger. When the officer discovered an outstanding arrest warrant, he arrested Phillips and searched the vehicle. He recovered $1,1161 in cash, 23.8 grams of methamphetamine, and a mixed substance containing 35.38 additional grams of methamphetamine. In 2025, Phillips pleaded guilty to possession of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine on March 17, 2023, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on June 18, 2024, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). For the drug possession charge, the presentence investigation report (PSR) calculated an advisory Guidelines range of 292 to 365 months’ imprisonment, and recommended a 360-month sentence based on Phillips’s criminal history and the nature of his offenses. Phillips objected to the PSR on two bases. First, he objected to the drug weight calculation. Phillips argued that the total converted drug weight should exclude the drugs seized on April 4, 2023, and June 18, 2024, claiming that the drugs may have belonged to other individuals. Likewise, he claimed that the drugs seized on June 18