Hernandez-Gonzalez v. Holder, ___ F.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL 618776 (9th Cir. Feb. 13, 2015) (California conviction for a violation of Penal Code 12020(a)(1) for possession of a billy club, with a sentence enhancement under Penal Code 186.22(b)(1), for a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, does not categorically constitute a crime involving moral turpitude, since the predicate felony conviction does not constitute a crime of moral turpitude, and the gang enhancement does not add turpitude to this offense).

Note: The gang enhancement, under Penal Code 186.22(b)(1), states that an additional term of punishment may be imposed if (1) an individual is convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, and (2) if that felony was committed with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members. The requisite intent applies to any criminal conduct, without a further requirement that the conduct be apart from the criminal conduct underlying the offense of conviction sought to be enhanced. Emery v. Clark, 643 F.3d 1210, 1215 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting People v. Albillar, 51 Cal.4th 47, 66 (2010)) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Additionally, the specific intent need not be to promote, further, or assist a gang-related crime but only to promote, further, or assist criminal conduct by gang members. Id. at 1215 n.3 (quoting Albillar, 51 Cal.4th at 67 (internal quotation marks omitted)).

The court in Hernandez-Gonzalez also found much more than a realistic probability that the gang enhancement would be applied to conduct that does not involve moral turpitude. Id. at ___ ( 186.22(b)(1) is regularly applied to weapons possession convictions involving non-turpitudinous conduct. . . . The gang enhancement does not provide a sufficient evil intent to transform an otherwise non-turpitudinous crime into one involving moral turpitude. Stated differently, the specific intent required under the statute to further criminal conduct by gang members does not necessarily establish the evil intent required to make the offense turpitudinous.).