The First Circuit has remanded a case for further consideration as to whether a Massachusetts conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (ABDW) is a crime involving moral turpitude. The court that ABDW can be committed both intentionally recklessly, and that the Massachusetts definition of "recklessness" departs from the definition employed by the Model Penal Code and a majority of states in that a defendant in Massachusetts need not have been subjectively aware of the risk posed by his conduct in order to have acted recklessly. Even in light of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (Board) decision in Matter of Wu, which construed a California conviction for assault with a deadly weapon that could be committed through reckless conduct, the court was not convinced that the Board had adequately considered the definition of recklessness in Massachusetts. As such, the court remanded the case for further consideration.
The full text of Coelho v. Sessions can be found here: