Carlos Rene Rivas-Gomez v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

441 F.3d 1072, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 8009, 2006 WL 846222
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 3, 2006
Docket03-72087
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 441 F.3d 1072 (Carlos Rene Rivas-Gomez v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carlos Rene Rivas-Gomez v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, 441 F.3d 1072, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 8009, 2006 WL 846222 (9th Cir. 2006).

Opinions

TROTT, Circuit Judge.

This petition for review raises the question of whether a conviction under Oregon Revised Statutes (“ORS”) § 163.355 (rape in the third degree), which criminalizes as a felony “sexual intercourse with another person under 16 years of age,” constitutes an aggravated felony within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A). We conclude, as did the Immigration Judge (“IJ”), that it does. However, because the IJ erroneously applied a heightened standard when deciding whether to grant a waiver under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(c), we grant the petition in part and remand.

BACKGROUND

Carlos Rene Rivas-Gomez (“Rivas”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, entered the United States in 1997 as an asylee. In 2001, Rivas pleaded guilty to felony rape in the third degree pursuant to ORS § 163.355. He was placed on three years’ formal probation under Oregon’s “Sex Offender Provisions.” These provisions made Rivas eligible under Oregon law for registration and supervision as a “predatory sex offender.” ORS § 181.585-181.592. The charge arose out of a sexual relationship between Rivas, who was nineteen years old at the time, and a fourteen-year-old girl The Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”)1 initiated removal proceedings against Rivas pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), which renders deportable “any alien who is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission.” “Rape” is classified by federal law an aggravated felony. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A) (defining “aggravated felony” as “murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor”).

The IJ terminated Rivas’s asylee status and ordered Rivas removed to Guatemala, finding that Rivas’s conviction for rape in the third degree constituted an aggravated felony, and denying Rivas’s application for a waiver under 8 U.S.C. § 1159(c). The Board of Immigration Appeals summarily affirmed the immigration judge’s decision, rendering the IJ’s decision the final agency determination. Thomas v. Gonzales, 409 F.3d 1177, 1182 (9th Cir.2005). Rivas now appeals the IJ’s decision, arguing that his felony conviction for rape in the third degree under Oregon law does not fall within [1074]*1074the ordinary, contemporary, and common meaning of the word “rape” because the crime does not require (1) force or fear or intimidation, and (2) a factual lack of consent. In supplemental briefing, Rivas argues also that the IJ erred when he applied a heightened standard to Rivas’s waiver application.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo the issue of whether a particular offense constitutes an aggravated felony. See Park v. INS, 252 F.3d 1018, 1021 (9th Cir.2001). Purely legal questions are also reviewed de novo. See de Martinez v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 759, 761 (9th Cir.2004).

DISCUSSION

We have jurisdiction to review questions of law raised in a petition for review. 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D). Therefore, we have jurisdiction to consider Rivas’s claims (1) that his criminal conviction does not constitute an aggravated felony, see Valencia v. Gonzales, 439 F.3d 1046, 1047 (9th Cir.2006), and (2) that the IJ erroneously applied the law in denying his waiver application.

A. Aggravated Felony

In determining whether Rivas’s conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony, we apply the analytical model set forth in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). See United States, v. Pallares-Galan, 359 F.3d 1088, 1099 (9th Cir.2004). Under the Taylor categorical approach, “the issue is not whether [the defendant’s] actual conduct constituted an aggravated felony, but whether the full range of conduct encompassed by [the statute the defendant violated] constitutes an aggravated felony.” United States v. Ceron-Sanchez, 222 F.3d 1169, 1172 (9th Cir.2000) (alterations and in original) (quoting United States v. Lomas, 30 F.3d 1191, 1193 (9th Cir.1994)).

The Taylor categorical approach requires that we look to the “ordinary, contemporary, and common meaning” of the word “rape” to determine whether the conduct prohibited by ORS § 163.355 falls within that definition. See United States v. Baron-Medina, 187 F.3d 1144, 1146 (9th Cir.1999) (“[W]e must interpret the undefined term ‘sexual abuse of a minor’ by ‘employing the ordinary, contemporary, and common meaning of the words that Congress used.’ ”) (quoting Zimmerman v. Or. Dep’t of Justice, 170 F.3d 1169, 1174 (9th Cir.1999)). In so doing, we “look solely to the statutory definition of the crime, not to the name given to the offense or to the underlying circumstances of the predicate conviction.” Baron-Medina, 187 F.3d at 1146.

We have previously looked to Black’s Law Dictionary for the contemporary meaning of the word “rape,” as well as for other terms used in state statutes. See United States v. Yanez-Saucedo, 295 F.3d 991, 996 (9th Cir.2002) (citing Black’s Law Dictionary for the contemporary definition of “rape”); Castro-Baez v. Reno, 217 F.3d 1057, 1059 (9th Cir.2000) (same); United States v. Pallares-Galan, 359 F.3d at 1100 (defining “sexual abuse”). Black’s Law Dictionary defines “rape” as “[u]nlawful sexual activity ... with a person ... without consent and usu[ally] by force or threat of injury.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1288 (8th ed.2004) (emphasis added).

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Bluebook (online)
441 F.3d 1072, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 8009, 2006 WL 846222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlos-rene-rivas-gomez-v-alberto-r-gonzales-attorney-general-ca9-2006.