United States Ninth Circuit

Petition for review of a BIA decision ordering Guatemalan petitioner removed despite his eligibility for withholding relief is reversed where: 1) although the Attorney General did have the authority to, through an adjudicative decision, create a strong presumption that a drug trafficking offense resulting in a sentence of less than five years is a "particularly serious crime" under relevant law; nevertheless, 2) the BIA erred in applying it retroactively to petitioner's case.

Appellate Information

• Argued 07/13/2007
• Decided 08/29/2007
• Published 08/29/2007

Judges

• FISHER, Circuit Judge:, Before:  PROCTER HUG, JR., PAMELA ANN RYMER and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert B. Jobe (argued) and Fatma Marouf, San Francisco, CA, for the petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Daniel G. Knauss, John Boyle and Cynthia M. Parsons (argued), Phoenix, AZ, for the respondent-appellee.