Blake v. Gonzales, ___ F.3d ___, ___, 2007 WL 914865 (2d Cir. March 28, 2007) (Massachusetts conviction of assault on police officer, under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 265, section 13D, with suspended two-year sentence to imprisonment, constituted felony for purposes of being a crime of violence aggravated felony, as defined under 18 U.S.C. 16(b), since the court applied the federal definition of felony, 18 U.S.C. 3559(a), and the maximum term of imprisonment for the offense of conviction was in excess of one year: "Regardless of how Massachusetts law defines it, we are obligated to apply the federal-law definition of a felony. Cf. United States v. Campbell, 167 F.3d 94, 97 (2d Cir.1999) (observing that "[t]he immigration laws contain no provision ... indicat[ing] that they are to be interpreted in accordance with state law," and holding that whether a person has been convicted of an aggravated felony within the language of 8 U.S.C. 1326(b)(2) "is necessarily ... a question of federal, not state, law, despite the fact that the predicate offense and its punishment are defined by the law of the State" (internal quotation marks omitted)).").

jurisdiction: 
Second Circuit

 

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