Law360 (August 12, 2026, 3:37 PM EDT) -- A conviction for witness retaliation did not make a Liberian citizen living in New Hampshire removable from the U.S., a First Circuit panel ruled, overturning a Board of Immigration Appeals decision to the contrary.

The three-judge panel held that Ishmael Koigor Bangs' conviction for retaliating against a witness was not categorically equivalent to an aggravated felony conviction for federal obstruction of justice. The appellate court agreed with Bangs that an obstruction of justice conviction requires a specific intent to interfere with a legal process or investigation, while the New Hampshire statute under which Bangs was convicted does not.

"Granted, as the BIA observed, witness retaliation 'displays a fundamental disregard for the rule of law that interferes with the judicial system.' But retaliation does not necessarily entail an intent to undermine the legal process; rather, it may be motivated by pure revenge," Circuit Judge Joshua D. Dunlap wrote in an opinion published Tuesday.

According to the decision, Bangs has lived in the Granite State since 2004, when he entered the U.S. as a refugee with his mother.

Bangs, who was granted lawful permanent resident status in 2008, was originally from Sierra Leone, where he was abandoned by his father after a coup, kidnapped and compelled to serve as a child soldier at age 6, and beaten, drugged and exposed to horrific violence. He was later rescued by his mother, the panel said.

The government initiated removal proceedings against Bangs in 2024 as a result of his New Hampshire conviction.

The conviction stemmed from an incident that occurred after Bangs was released from a youth detention facility. Believing that a friend had reported him for shoplifting, Bangs forced him to strip naked, glued his mouth shut, dripped melted plastic on him and burned him with a heated knife. Bangs later pled guilty to witness tampering and other crimes, according to the panel.

An immigration judge found Bangs removable, but also said that he was entitled to deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture due to the likelihood that Bangs would be subjected to torture if he was removed to Sierra Leone.

On appeal, the BIA agreed Bangs was removable and reversed the immigration judge's torture finding, prompting Bangs' appeal to the First Circuit.

According to the panel, both the U.S. Supreme Court and the First Circuit have held that obstruction of justice convictions require intent to interfere with a legal process, something that is not required by the New Hampshire statute at issue in the case.

The panel noted that New Hampshire courts reached the same conclusion in State v. Baird, which involved a man who, after being investigated for sexually abusing his daughter, directed his son to distribute defamatory materials about her to her friends and was convicted under the same statute as Bangs.

"Neither the trial court nor the New Hampshire Supreme Court required a showing of intent to interfere with the legal process to sustain the conviction. The only intent the New Hampshire Supreme Court recognized was Baird's admission that he acted for purposes of revenge," Judge Dunlap said.

The panel said that neither the immigration judge nor the BIA had cited that case or grappled with its implications, and that the U.S. government had ignored Bangs' arguments about the case.

The panel vacated the BIA decision and remanded the case for additional proceedings.

Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

U.S. Circuit Judges Julie Rikelman, María Antongiorgi-Jordán and Joshua D. Dunlap sat on the panel for the First Circuit.

Bangs is represented by Nathan P. Warecki and Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero of Nixon Peabody LLP.

The government is represented by Jessica R. Lesnau, Stephen J. Flynn and Brett A. Shumate of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division.

The case is Ishmael Koigor Bangs v. Todd Blanche, case number 25-1820, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

--Editing by Melissa Treolo.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.