(A)  In General.  The BIA defines recklessness as acting with awareness and conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.  Because a reckless act is committed with conscious disregard of a risk, the BIA has found such reckless intent sufficient to sustain a finding that a noncitizen has been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude.[984]

 

[984] Matter of Franklin, 20 I. & N. Dec. 867, 871 (BIA 1994), aff’d, 72 F.3d 571 (8th Cir. 1995), cert. den., 519 U.S. 834, 117 S.Ct. 105 (1996) (involuntary manslaughter conviction under Missouri Rev. Stat. § §  562.016(4) and 565.024(1) constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude, where Missouri law requires that the convicted person must have consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and that such disregard constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the situation), modifying Matter of Ghunaim, 15 I. & N. Dec. 269 (BIA 1975), Matter of Lopez, 13 I. & N. Dec. 725 (BIA 1971), Matter of Sanchez-Marin, 11 I. & N. Dec. 264 (BIA 1965), and Matter of B, 4 I. & N. Dec. 493 (BIA 1951), and overruling Matter of Szegedi, 10 I. & N. Dec. 28 (BIA 1962)); accord, Matter of Medina, 15 I. & N. Dec. 611 (BIA 1976), aff’d sub nom. Medina-Luna v. INS, 547 F.2d 1171 (7th Cir. 1977) (Illinois conviction of aggravated assault under Chapter 38, § 12-2(a)(1) of the Illinois Revised Statutes, held to be a CMT, concluding that moral turpitude can lie in criminally reckless conduct, where the actor must consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and such disregard must constitute a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation); Matter of Wojtkow, 18 I. & N. Dec. 111 (BIA 1981) (conviction for second degree manslaughter under the New York Penal Law for recklessly causing the death of another, constituted a crime involving moral turpitude, since recklessness was defined as in Medina).

First Circuit

CRIMES OF MORAL TURPITUDE"MENTAL STATE"RECKLESSNESS
Idy v. Holder, 674 F.3d 111 (1st Cir. Mar. 23, 2012) (New Hampshire conviction of reckless conduct, in violation of N.H.Rev.Stat. Ann. 631:3 [recklessly engages in conduct which places or may place another in danger of serious bodily injury where the defendant is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk] is a CMT).

CRIMES OF MORAL TURPITUDE"MENTAL STATE"RECKLESSNESS
Idy v. Holder, 674 F.3d 111 (1st Cir. Mar. 23, 2012) (New Hampshire conviction of reckless conduct, in violation of N.H.Rev.Stat. Ann. 631:3 [recklessly engages in conduct which places or may place another in danger of serious bodily injury where the defendant is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk] is a CMT).

Second Circuit

CRIME OF MORAL TURPITUDE - ASSAULT - SECOND DEGREE Singh v. USDHS, 517 F.3d 638 (2d Cir. Feb. 29, 2008) (New York conviction of second degree assault, under New York Penal Law 120.05, is a divisible statute; a conviction of violating NYPL 120.05(4) is not a crime of moral turpitude), following Gill v. INS, 420 F.3d 82, 90-91 (2d Cir. 2005) (holding that N.Y.P.L. 120.05(4) is not a crime of moral turpitude because it requires only that the defendant acted with attempted recklessness instead of specific intent).

Eighth Circuit

CRIMES OF MORAL TUPRITUDE " RECKLESS DISREGARD
Avendano v. Holder, 770 F.3d 731 (8th Cir. Oct. 27, 2014) (Minnesota conviction of making terroristic threats, in violation of Minn.Stat. 609.713(1) [threatening to commit a crime of violence in reckless disregard of the risk of causing terror in his girlfriend], is categorically a crime of moral turpitude, where, as here, Recklessness requires deliberate action in disregard of a known, substantial risk.); citing Matter of Louissaint, 24 I. & N. Dec. 754, 756-757 (BIA 2009) (According to the Attorney General, a crime involving moral turpitude involves reprehensible conduct committed with some degree of scienter, either specific intent, deliberateness, willfulness, or recklessness. citing Matter of Silva"Trevino, 24 I. & N. Dec. at 706 & n. 5).

Eleventh Circuit

CRIMES OF MORAL TURPITUDE - CRIMINAL RECKLESS CONDUCT
Keungne v. U.S. Attorney General, ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. Mar. 10, 2009) (Georgia conviction of criminal reckless conduct, under Ga. Code Ann. 16-5-60(b) ["causes bodily harm to or endangers the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act or omission will cause harm or endanger the safety of the other person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation"], constitutes a crime of moral turpitude for purposes of establishing deportability, pursuant to INA 237(a)(2)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(i), for one conviction of a CMT within five years of admission, because the minimum conduct for which conviction can be had requires conscious disregard of a substantial risk of serious harm or death to another).
NOTE: This is a bad decision, since it did not consider that not all reckless conduct necessarily involves moral turpitude.

Other

AGGRAVATED FELONY " CRIME OF VIOLENCE " RECKLESSNESS " ATTEMPTED RECKLESSNESS
New York permits defendants to plead guilty to legally impossible crimes, including attempted reckless first-degree assault. See People v. Guishard, 15 A.D.3d 731, 789 N.Y.S.2d 332, 333 (2005) (affirming plea conviction to attempted assault in the first degree although the crime was a legal impossibility); Dale v. Holder, 610 F.3d 294, 302 (5th Cir. 2010). Compare, United States v. Gomez"Hernandez, 680 F.3d 1171, 1175"78 & n. 4 (9th Cir. 2012) (defendant's conviction for attempted aggravated assault qualified as a crime of violence because, under Arizona law, it is not possible to be convicted of attempt without specific intent).