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Matter of Armando Ruiz Lopez

The Board held that recklessness is a sufficiently culpable level of scienter for a crime to involve moral turpitude, at least where it involves an intentional act done with unreasonable disregard of risk to life or property. In this case, the offense was driving a vehicle in a manner indicating a wanton or willful (i.e., reckless) disregard for the lives or property of others while attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle in violation of section 46.61.024 of the Revised Code of Washington (1997). The Board rejected the respondent's argument that reckless disregard of the danger to property would not involve moral turpitude and held that the offense categorically was a CMT.

Read the opinion at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol25/3720.pdf

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