Sandoval-Lua v. Gonzales, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 2421427 (9th Cir. Aug. 28, 2007) (California conviction of transportation of methamphetamines, in violation of Health & Safety Code 11379(a), did not constitute a drug-trafficking aggravated felony under INA 101(a)(43)(B), 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(B), and therefore did not disqualify the noncitizen from eligibility for cancellation of removal for LPRs, under INA 240A(a)(3), 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a)(3), because the noncitizen offered an inconclusive record of conviction that showed the conviction was not necessarily for an aggravated felony, and thus offered sufficient evidence to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he was not convicted of an aggravated felony).
The court stated:
we must determine whether the judicially noticeable documents establish that Lua's conviction necessarily was for all of the elements constituting an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(B). If the record of conviction does not so establish, Lua's 11379(a) conviction cannot amount to the generic offense, and Lua has carried his burden. This conclusion results from the Supreme Court's holdings in Taylor, 495 U.S. 599-602, and Shepard, 544 U.S. at 19-21, which both stress that a predicate conviction qualifies as a generic crime under the modified categorical approach only if the record of conviction shows the jury "necessarily" found all of the generic elements, or the defendant "necessarily" admitted all of the generic elements in a plea.



It is just as possible, on the basis of the record, that Lua pleaded to the nongeneric elements. When confronted with such a record, pursuant to Taylor and Shepard we must conclude as a matter of law that the conviction was not for a generic offense for purposes of determining whether Lua has committed an aggravated felony under the INA. Thus, Lua has carried his burden to show that he has not been convicted of an aggravated felony. Sandoval-Lua v. Gonzales, ___ F.3d ___, ___, 2007 WL 2421427 (9th Cir. Aug. 28, 2007) (footnotes omitted).