These summaries are not intended as legal advice. Please contact a licensed attorney to discuss the specifics of your case.
Viewing entries tagged
stalking
The Third Circuit has determined that a Pennsylvania conviction for stalking is overbroad and indivisible when compared to the generic definition of a crime of stalking because it includes conduct intending to cause substantial emotional distress, as well as conduct intended to put the victim in fear of serious bodily harm or death.
The full text of Vurimindi v. Attorny General can be found here:
The Ninth Circuit has concluded that a California conviction for stalking is categorically a crime involving moral turpitude. The court noted that the statute requires a willful course of conduct that puts a person in reasonable fear for their safety. It also requires the defendant to have made a credible threat of harm. The court also concluded that the petitioner’s two stalking convictions, which related to conduct on different dates, did not arise of a single criminal scheme.
The full text of Orellana v. Barr can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/07/28/19-70164.pdf
The Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) has determined that a conviction for stalking in California is not a crime of stalking, overruling its prior decision in the same case. The Board determined that there is a realistic probability that California would apply section 646.9 to conduct committed with the intent to cause and which causes a victim to fear safety in a non-physical sense. Because the Legislature explicitly replaced the specific reference to death or great bodily injury with the broader term safety, stalking offenses committed with the intention of causing a victim to fear nonphysical injury, either personally or to his or her family, may be prosecuted in California. Such offenses fall outside the scope of the definition of a crime of stalking. The Board further determined that the statute is indivisible, and as such, the modified categorical approach cannot be employed.
The full text of Matter of Sanchez-Lopez can be found here:
