Offense
Murder (first or second degree)
Aggravated Felony (AF)
Divisible as the AF “murder” because California includes murder of fetus; see Advice.
Crime Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT)
Yes CIMT
Other Removal Grounds
Can be deportable crime of DV.
To ensure not wrongly charged as child abuse, keep minor V’s age out of the ROC. See 243(a).
Advice and Comments
See manslaughter as an alternative.
The Ninth Circuit found that 187(a) is divisible as murder because it is “the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus,” while the federal generic definition of murder does not include a fetus. The judge or officer may look to the record of conviction to determine whether the victim was a fetus.1Gomez Fernandez v. Barr, 969 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2020).