This comes out of the immigration world.
In Gomez Fernandez v. Barr, --- F.3d ---, No. 19-70079 (9th Cir. 2020), the Court held that California 187 is overbroad when compared to the federal murder definition in 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a).
In short, the California murder statute includes killing a fetus, but the federal definition does not: "Because federal law defines the term 'human being' to exclude an unborn fetus, [] California Penal Code § 187(a), which criminalizes the unlawful killing of an unborn fetus, is broader than the federal generic definition."
The Court further found section 187(a) "is divisible because it creates distinct crimes for the unlawful killing of a human being and the unlawful killing of a fetus."
And under the modified categorical approach, the Court found the petitioner's conviction qualified as federal murder because it was for killing a human being as defined under federal law.
