FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUN 16 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S . CO U RT OF AP PE A LS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RODOLFO BARRIGA-MORENO, No. 09-71956
Petitioner, Agency No. A090-640-216
v.
MEMORANDUM *
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
RODOLFO BARRIGA-MORENO, No. 10-70373
Petitioner, Agency No. A090-640-216
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted May 4, 2011
Seattle, Washington
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Before: SCHROEDER, McKEOWN, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.
Rodolfo Barriga-Moreno, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitions for
review of two final orders of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). In the first,
the BIA granted Petitioner's motion to reopen, but dismissed Petitioner's appeal
from an Immigration Judge's decision finding him removable and denying his
request for a continuance. In the second, the BIA denied Petitioner's motion to
reopen his removal proceedings to apply for adjustment of status. The main issues
in this appeal are whether Petitioner's Washington conviction for indecent liberties
under Washington state law is for a crime involving moral turpitude, and whether
it constitutes a violent or dangerous crime.
Before maµing these determinations, we must identify the crime to which
Petitioner pled guilty in state court. The record before us is unclear. The judgment
against Petitioner reflects only that he was convicted of indecent liberties under
y 9A.44.100(1), without specifying the applicable subsection. The 'offense score'
that is listed in the state court judgment for purposes of sentencing was level VI,
which relates to subsection (b), and not level VII, which relates to subsection (a).
See In re Pers. Restraint of Acron, 95 P.3d 1272, 1273 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004)
(describing offense levels). In his plea agreement Petitioner admitted by
implication only to forcible compulsion, subsection (a), stating that he was
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pleading guilty to the crime of indecent liberties 'as charged in the amended
information.' Nevertheless, Petitioner twice described in the plea agreement that
he committed sexual contact with a victim who was physically helpless due to her
age, which would be subsection (b).
Given the lacµ of clarity with respect to Petitioner's conviction, we remand
to the BIA to determine in the first instance whether Petitioner was convicted
under subsection (a) or (b) of y 9A.44.100(1). The BIA should further analyze
whether the conduct penalized under the applicable subsection constitutes a crime
involving moral turpitude under both the categorical and modified categorical
approaches, and if so, whether it is a violent or dangerous crime.
Petition for review GRANTED; REMANDED.
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FILED
Barriga-Moreno v. Holder, Nos. 09-71956, 10-70373 JUN 16 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
CALLAHAN, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part: U.S . CO U RT OF AP PE A LS
I see no reason to remand all of the issues on appeal.
Because we review de novo the BIA's conclusion that Barriga-Moreno was
convicted under subsection (a) of Washington Revised Code y 9A.44.100(1), and
the record indicates that he was convicted under subsection (b) instead, I would
hold that subsection (b) applies. See Li v. Ashcroft, 356 F.3d 1153, 1161 n.7 (9th
Cir. 2004) (en banc) (declining to remand because '[t]he agency has already
considered the factual and legal contentions as to [the petitioner's] claims').
In any event, the BIA properly concluded that a conviction under any of the
subsections of the statute categorically constitutes a crime involving moral
turpitude (CIMT). In challenging the conclusion that a conviction under
subsection (b), in particular, is a CIMT, Barriga-Moreno relies on inapposite cases
that involve other subsections of the statute, or prior versions of subsection (b). I
would hold that his conviction under subsection (b) constitutes a CIMT.
I would remand only as to whether a conviction under subsection (b) is a
violent or dangerous crime, which the BIA has not decided in the first instance.
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