Joel Soto-Rodriguez v. Eric Holder, Jr. , 607 F. App'x 648 ( 2015 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
APR 14 2015
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JOEL OVED SOTO-RODRIGUEZ, No. 14-71419
Petitioner, Agency No. A043-991-320
v.
ERIC HOLDER, JR., Attorney General
Respondent. MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted March 10, 2015
San Francisco, California
Before: W. FLETCHER, DAVIS,** and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Joel Soto-Rodriguez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, seeks
judicial review of a final order of removal issued by the Board of Immigration
Appeals (BIA) on April 28, 2014. The BIA found him removable as an alien
convicted of two crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Andre M. Davis, Senior Circuit Judge for the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting by designation.
scheme of criminal conduct under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(ii). In its decision, the
BIA affirmed the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of Soto-Rodriguez’s motion to
terminate removal proceedings, discerning no error in the IJ’s finding that Soto-
Rodriguez’s conviction for tampering with a witness in violation of Wash. Rev.
Code § 9A.72.120(1) was categorically a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT).
For the reasons that follow, we grant the petition for review and remand to the
agency to grant Soto-Rodriguez’s motion to terminate proceedings.
1. The BIA’s determination that the Washington witness tampering statute
is categorically a CIMT merits no deference under Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323
U.S. 134 (1944). The BIA erred in identifying the elements of the witness
tampering statute in reasoning that the statute required “a showing that the
defendant had the intent to interfere with an official proceeding and therefore
undermine the integrity of the process of justice.” As the prosecution does not
have to specifically and separately prove a defendant’s intent to obstruct justice to
obtain a conviction under the witness tampering statute, such an intent is not an
element of the crime. See State v. Stroh, 588 P.2d 1182, 1183-84 (Wash. 1979) (en
banc); State v. Rempel, 770 P.2d 1058, 1061-62 (Wash. Ct. App. 1989) (“In a
prosecution for tampering with a witness under RCW 9A.72.120, it is not
necessary to prove specific intent to obstruct justice, it is sufficient to show that the
2
defendant knew that the person approached was going to be a witness.”), rev’d on
other grounds, 785 P.2d 1134 (Wash. 1990) (en banc). Because the BIA “erred at
step one” of the categorical approach by failing to identify the elements of the
witness tampering statute correctly, we “owe[] its CIMT analysis at step two no
deference.” Hernandez-Cruz v. Holder, 651 F.3d 1094, 1106 (9th Cir. 2011). We
therefore review whether Washington’s witness tampering statute is a CIMT de
novo.
2. The BIA erred in determining that Soto-Rodriguez’s conviction for
witness tampering was categorically a CIMT, thereby rendering him removable.
Under step two of the categorical approach, this Court determines “whether all of
the conduct proscribed by [the statute] falls within [the] generic definition of moral
turpitude.” Nunez v. Holder, 594 F.3d 1124, 1133 (9th Cir. 2010). Under this
approach, a crime does not categorically involve moral turpitude if the conduct
proscribed in the statute is broader than the generic definition of a CIMT.
Castrijon-Garcia v. Holder, 704 F.3d 1205, 1212 (9th Cir. 2013). “[T]o hold that
the statute of conviction is overbroad, we must determine that there is a realistic
probability of its application to conduct that falls beyond the scope of the generic
federal offense.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “This realistic
probability can be established by showing that, in at least one other case,” a state
3
court applied the statute to conduct that falls beyond the scope of the generic
definition of moral turpitude. Nunez, 594 F.3d at 1129. It can also be established
by showing that “the statute was so applied in [the petitioner’s] own case.”
Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, 549 U.S. 183, 193 (2007).
Morally turpitudinous crimes are those “crimes that involve either fraud or
base, vile, and depraved conduct that shock[s] the public conscience.” Nunez, 594
F.3d at 1131 (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also
Marmolejo-Campos v. Holder, 558 F.3d 903, 910 (9th Cir. 2009) (collecting cases
in which this Court has crafted its “own generalized definition of ‘moral
turpitude’”). Viewed categorically, the witness tampering statute at issue here
involves neither.
The statute does not categorically involve fraudulent conduct. With respect
to fraud, where there is no explicit statutory requirement of an intent to defraud, an
implicit intent to defraud exists only where (1) the alien uses “deceit, graft,
trickery, or dishonest means” to (2) obtain something of value from the
government. Goldeshtein v. INS, 8 F.3d 645, 649 (9th Cir. 1993); see also Blanco
v. Mukasey, 518 F.3d 714, 719 (9th Cir. 2008) (“Our cases have therefore
recognized fraudulent intent only when the individual employs false statements to
obtain something tangible.”). Even assuming, without deciding, that a petitioner’s
4
conduct under the statute always requires deceitful or dishonest means for
conviction, the statute still does not require an intent to defraud because, as we
have stated on multiple occasions, obstructing justice and withholding information
from the government do not qualify as obtaining of something of value from the
government. See Blanco, 518 F.3d at 719; Goldeshtein, 8 F.3d at 649.
Similarly, the statute does not categorically encompass base, vile, and
depraved conduct that shocks the public conscience. Such offenses typically
involve grave acts such as “murder, rape, and incest.” Robles-Urrea v. Holder,
678 F.3d 702, 708 (9th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). To separate
bad conduct from unconscionable conduct, this Court has analyzed whether the
statute at issue requires an evil intent such as a specific intent to conceal criminal
activity or obstruct justice. See id. at 710 (concluding misprision of a felony is not
inherently base, vile, or depraved because it does not require a specific intent to
conceal or obstruct justice).
The government contends that because the Washington statute targets
attempts to interfere with investigative and judicial processes, it offends the most
fundamental values of society and therefore should be deemed a CIMT. But this
explains why witness tampering is illegal, not why it is worse than any other crime.
See id. (“The government argues that misprision of a felony is base, vile, and
5
depraved because it has been historically condemned. There is no question that
‘gross indifference to the duty to report known criminal behavior remains a badge
of irresponsible citizenship.’ That only explains, however, why we choose to
criminalize misprision of a felony in the first place. It says nothing about whether
misprision of a felony is worse than any other crime . . . .” (internal citations
omitted) (quoting Roberts v. United States, 445 U.S. 552 (1980)). The integrity of
the judicial process is a cherished value of society, but we cannot conclude that all
of the conduct proscribed by the statute is so base, vile, and depraved as to shock
the public’s conscience.
Robles-Urrea v. Holder, 678 F.3d 702, compels this conclusion. In Robles-
Urrea, we held that misprision of a felony, in which a person with “knowledge of
the actual commission of a felony” does not report that knowledge to a judge or
authority, was not categorically a CIMT. Id. at 706, 710-11. We offered two
reasons. First, “[m]isprision of a felony differs from other crimes of concealment
that have been found to involve moral turpitude, because it requires not a specific
intent to conceal or obstruct justice, but only knowledge of the felony.” Id. at 710.
Second, we noted that treating misprision as a CIMT produces absurd results,
where the person who commits the underlying felony would not have committed a
6
CIMT (for example, if he commits burglary), but the person who failed to report
that felony would have committed one. Id. at 711.
That reasoning applies here. First, as we already noted, § 9A.72.120(1)
punishes anyone who tampers with someone “she has reason to believe is about to
be called as a witness.” The statute does not demand a showing of a specific intent
to obstruct justice; the only requirement is for prosecutors to show knowledge. See
Stroh, 588 P.2d at 1183-84; Rempel, 770 P.2d at 1061-62. Second, §
9A.72.120(1)(c) punishes anyone who tells a witness to “[w]ithhold from a law
enforcement agency information which he or she has relevant to a criminal
investigation.” If we were to hold that § 9A.72.120(1)(c) is a CIMT, we would
produce the same result we rejected in Robles-Urrea: someone who commits a
burglary in Washington would not have committed a CIMT, but someone who tells
a witness not to report that burglary would have done so. In light of Robles-Urrea,
this statute is not categorically a CIMT.
3. We decline to apply the modified categorical approach or remand to the
agency to do so because the statute here is not divisible under Rendon v. Holder,
764 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2014). Because the witness tampering statute involves
multiple, alternative means of violating the statute instead of multiple, alternative
elements on which the jury must unanimously agree, the statute is indivisible and
7
the modified categorical approach has no application. See State v. Witherspoon,
286 P.3d 996, 1003 (Wash. Ct. App. 2012) (“There are three alternative means of
committing witness tampering: attempting to induce a person to (1) testify falsely
or withhold testimony, (2) absent himself or herself from an official proceeding, or
(3) withhold information from a law enforcement agency.”); State v. Lobe, 167
P.3d 627, 630 (Wash. Ct. App. 2007) (same).
PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED.
8