California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Durazo, D070901 (Cal. App. 2017):
"[A] defendant may not invoke a trial court's failure to instruct on a lesser included offense as a basis on which to reverse a conviction when, for tactical reasons, the defendant persuades a trial court not to instruct on a lesser included offense supported by the evidence. [Citations.] In that situation, the doctrine of invited error bars the defendant from challenging on appeal the trial court's failure to give the instruction." (People v. Barton (1995) 12 Cal.4th 186, 198.)
The Attorney General asserts the invited error doctrine bars Ruben's claim of instructional error because at trial Ruben's attorney agreed there was no evidentiary basis for instructing on attempted criminal threat. However, for the invited error doctrine to apply "it must be clear from the record that counsel had a deliberate tactical purpose in suggesting or acceding to an instruction, and did not act simply out of ignorance or mistake." (People v. Maurer (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 1121, 1127.) "This is because important rights of the accused are at stake, and it is the trial court's duty fully to instruct the jury." (Id. at p. 1128.) Invited error exists only where trial counsel both
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