KEELEY

27 I. & N. Dec. 146
CourtBoard of Immigration Appeals
DecidedJuly 1, 2017
DocketID 3907
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 27 I. & N. Dec. 146 (KEELEY) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Board of Immigration Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
KEELEY, 27 I. & N. Dec. 146 (bia 2017).

Opinion

Cite as 27 I&N Dec. 146 (BIA 2017) Interim Decision #3907

Matter of David Paul KEELEY, Respondent Decided October 20, 2017

U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review Board of Immigration Appeals

(1) The term “rape” in section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A) (2012), encompasses an act of vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, or digital or mechanical penetration, no matter how slight. Perez-Gonzalez v. Holder, 667 F.3d 622 (5th Cir. 2012), not followed. (2) The term “rape” also requires that the underlying sexual act be committed without consent, which may be shown by a statutory requirement that the victim’s ability to appraise the nature of the conduct was substantially impaired and the offender had a culpable mental state as to such impairment. FOR RESPONDENT: Amanda H. Frost, Esquire; and Doran Shemin, Washington, D.C. FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Meggan G. Johnson, Associate Legal Advisor BEFORE: Board Panel: PAULEY, MALPHRUS, and MULLANE, Board Members.

PAULEY, Board Member:

In a decision dated August 8, 2016, an Immigration Judge found the respondent removable under section 237(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) (2012), as an alien convicted of an aggravated felony rape under section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(A) (2012), and ordered him removed from the United States. 1 The respondent has appealed from that decision. The appeal will be dismissed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The respondent is a native and citizen of the United Kingdom who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States on June 23, 1997. On January 13, 2011, he was convicted of rape in violation of section 2907.02(A)(1)(c) of the Ohio Revised Code Annotated. The Immigration Judge determined that the respondent’s offense was an aggravated felony 1 Section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act defines the term “aggravated felony” as “murder, rape, or sexual abuse of a minor.”

146 Cite as 27 I&N Dec. 146 (BIA 2017) Interim Decision #3907

under section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act. The respondent did not apply for any relief from removal, and the Immigration Judge ordered him removed.

II. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES The parties agree that, at all relevant times, section 2907.02(A)(1)(c) of the Ohio Revised Code Annotated made it unlawful to “engage in sexual conduct” with another with knowledge or reason to know of the fact that the other person’s ability to resist or consent is “substantially impaired because of a mental or physical condition or because of advanced age.” The parties further agree that the term “sexual conduct” was, at all relevant times, defined in section 2907.01(A) as

vaginal intercourse between a male and female; anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of sex; and, without privilege to do so, the insertion, however slight, of any part of the body or any instrument, apparatus, or other object into the vaginal or anal opening of another.

The parties also generally agree that “rape” in section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act refers to an offense that encompasses some form of sexual act that is committed under certain prohibitive conditions, including incapacity to consent to the sexual act. There are two points of contention in this case. First, the parties disagree on whether “rape” in section 101(a)(43)(A) encompasses digital or mechanical penetration or is confined to acts of vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse. Second, they dispute whether the “substantial impairment” standard under Ohio law is synonymous with an incapacity to consent. 2 Whether the respondent’s conviction is for an aggravated felony rape offense under section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act is a question of law that we review de novo. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(d)(3)(ii) (2017).

III. ANALYSIS Our inquiry is governed by the categorical approach set forth in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990), and its progeny. This approach requires us to compare the scope of conduct punished as rape under section 2907.02(A)(1)(c) of the Ohio Revised Code Annotated to the generic definition of “rape” in section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act. 2 We do not purport to resolve all aspects of the definition of “rape” in section 101(a)(43)(A) of the Act. We will only address the Ohio statute in light of the contentions advanced by the parties, below and on appeal. For example, we need not reach any issues regarding oral sex and its relationship to penetration. Those issues are reserved for future decisions.

147 Cite as 27 I&N Dec. 146 (BIA 2017) Interim Decision #3907

The term “rape” was added to section 101(a)(43)(A) by section 321(a)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Division C of Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-546, 3009-627. This term is not defined by the Act or any other provision of Federal law. In the absence of a statutory definition, we must define the term according to its ordinary, contemporary meaning in 1996, when “rape” was added to section 101(a)(43)(A). See Matter of Alvarado, 26 I&N Dec. 895, 897 (BIA 2016) (finding “it appropriate to adopt a generic definition [of a crime] based on how [it] was commonly defined” when section 101(a)(43) was enacted). To fully understand the meaning of “rape” in 1996, we must examine the evolution of rape offenses, and sex offenses in general, from their common law roots to Congress’ addition of the term to the Act. Common law recognized two sexual offenses: rape and sodomy. 1 Wayne R. LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law § 2.1 (2d ed.), Westlaw (database updated Oct. 2017). The common law defined rape as “the carnal knowledge of a woman forcibly and against her will,” and for the first half of the 20th century, State laws proscribing rape followed this definition. 2 LaFave, supra, § 17.1 (quoting 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 210 (1769)). Such “carnal knowledge” referred to the “physical act necessary for rape,” namely, the “penetration of the female sex organ by the male organ.” Id. “Sodomy” in early American jurisprudence deviated from its common law definition, which prohibited anal intercourse between two men, including acts such as anal and oral intercourse between two males or a male and a female. See Model Penal Code §§ 213.0(3), 213.2 cmt. 1 at 357−62 (1980) (regarding “deviate sexual intercourse”). The Model Penal Code recognized the first notable shift in the definition of rape in the early 1960s. The term “carnal knowledge” was replaced with “sexual intercourse,” which the Model Penal Code defined as including vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse. Model Penal Code § 213.1(1) (1962). This change acknowledged the growing community consensus that intercourse was the defining act that separated rape from other forms of nonconsensual sexual contact. See Model Penal Code § 213.1 cmt. 8(d) at 346 (1980) (discussing the three categories of rape statutes that existed at the time: (1) those that punish “only genital copulation”; (2) those that reach “anal and oral copulation”; and (3) those that “include digital or mechanical penetration as well as genital, anal, and oral sex”).

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27 I. & N. Dec. 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keeley-bia-2017.