ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Court of Appeals has upheld the prison sentence of a man convicted of attacking the mother of his child with nunchucks.
John Edgar Phillip, 54, said a lower court failed to find that he should face the maximum five-year term for third-degree assault. The appeals court rejected his claim Wednesday, Anchorage news station KTUU-TV reported.
Phillip was accused of using the martial arts weapon, consisting of two solid sticks attached by a chain or rope, to attack the woman in August 2013. Their 8-year-old son saw the assault, according to court documents.
The case gave Phillip his fifth felony conviction. He has 17 other misdemeanor convictions, three of them for driving under the influence. The appeals court noted that all the victims in Phillip’s other assault cases have been women.
The Superior Court judge who sentenced Phillip said he had a lengthy history of assault and other dangerous behavior while intoxicated.
The judge determined that his alcohol problem and diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder made him “a tremendous danger to those around him,” court papers say.
