State v. Fleming
State v. Fleming
Opinion
*508 In this appeal, Willie Fleming questions whether the invited-error doctrine automatically applies when a party requests a jury instruction at trial but claims error on appeal. We consider the rationale underlying the invited-error doctrine, how the doctrine has been applied in Kansas cases involving asserted jury instruction error, whether K.S.A. 22-3414(3) precludes the doctrine's application, and whether the doctrine should be applied here. We hold the invited-error doctrine does not automatically apply every time a party requests an instruction at trial but then, on appeal, claims the district court erred by giving it. Instead, appellate courts must engage in a searching analysis of the facts of the case to determine whether the complaining party truly invited the error. Under the circumstances of this case, we apply the doctrine and do not review the merits of Fleming's claim of jury instruction error.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The State charged Fleming with theft, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary after an investigation revealed evidence that he and others broke into a residence at night and took property. The noise they made while entering the residence startled Carrington Dean and Quintez Secka, who had been asleep in separate upstairs bedrooms. Dean was a guest who was sleeping over that night, and Secka was a resident. Other residents were not home at the time.
The State presented evidence at trial establishing that Fleming and another man entered the room where Dean had been sleeping. According to this evidence, Fleming hit Dean in the head with a gun and demanded, "Where's the money, where's the weed, where's the safe[?]" When Dean told them he did not know what they were talking about, the men searched the upstairs rooms. Meanwhile, Secka hid from sight. When the men left the house, Dean realized his cell phone and wallet, which had been in the room with him, had been taken. Eventually, the residents of the home realized the burglars had taken property from other rooms.
In charging Fleming with aggravated robbery, the State specified that Fleming had taken a cell phone and a wallet from the person or presence of Dean. In charging theft, the State alleged he took a television, a PlayStation, a laptop computer, and watches. A jury acquitted Fleming of theft but convicted him of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.
Fleming appealed to the Court of Appeals, raising three issues: (1) Did the district court err in instructing the jury on aggravated robbery by saying that the State had to prove Fleming "took property from the person or presence of the" victim without specifying that the State had alleged the stolen property was a cell phone and a wallet? (2) Did the district court err in failing to give a jury instruction on sympathy and prejudice? and (3) Did the district court err in increasing his sentence based on his criminal history in violation of his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights?
The Court of Appeals panel held Fleming had not preserved the first issue because he invited the error and he failed to establish the merits of his arguments on the second and third issues. One member of the panel, Judge Steve Leben, concurred on the first issue. On that issue, the panel disagreed about whether the invited-error doctrine applied. But the panel unanimously agreed, although for different reasons, that Fleming's convictions and sentences should be affirmed.
State v. Fleming
, No. 112,549,
Fleming sought our review of the Court of Appeals decision. We granted review of the first issue only-the alleged error in instructing on aggravated robbery. This means we will not discuss the Court of Appeals' analysis of the other two issues. See Supreme Court Rule 8.03(h)(1) (2018 Kan. S. Ct. R. 53). Some additional details help explain Fleming's arguments related to the first issue.
*509 On appeal, Fleming challenged the aggravated robbery jury instruction as being broader than the charge set out in the complaint against him. The complaint alleged:
"COUNT 1- That on or about the 12th day of December, 2012, in the City of Overland Park, County of Johnson and State of Kansas, WILLIE DEMARIO FLEMING, did then and there unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly take property, to-wit: cell phone, wallet from the person or presence of another, to-wit: Carrington Dean , by force or by threat of bodily harm to the person of Carrington Dean, while armed with a dangerous weapon, to-wit: handgun, and did inflict bodily harm upon Carrington in the course of such robbery, a severity level 3 person felony, in violation of K.S.A. 21-5420, K.S.A. 21-6804 and K.S.A. 21-6807 (aggravated robbery)." (Emphasis added to highlight the language Fleming relies upon.)
Fleming's counsel proposed an instruction based on the pattern instruction on aggravated robbery. Fleming's proposed instruction changed the charged language of "property: to wit: cell phone, wallet from the person or presence of another" to "property from the presence of Carrington Dean." In full, Fleming's proposed instruction read:
"The defendant is charged in Count I with aggravated robbery. The defendant pleads not guilty.
"To establish this charge, each of the following claims must be proved:
"1. The defendant knowingly took property from the presence of Carrington Dean .
"2. The taking was by threat of bodily harm to Carrington Dean.
"3. The defendant inflicted bodily harm upon Carrington Dean.
"4. This act occurred on or about the 12th day of December, 2012, in Johnson County Kansas." (Emphasis added to language at issue).
The State proposed similar language, stating it had to prove that Fleming knowingly "took property from the person or presence of Carrington Dean."
Thus, both Fleming's and the State's proposed instructions deviated from the language in the complaint by referring to the taking of "property" without specifying that the State had alleged Fleming took a cell phone and wallet. Fleming's proposed instruction also deviated from the language in the complaint by proposing use of the phrase "from the presence" of Dean rather than the complaint's language of "from the person or presence." The State's proposed instruction stayed true to the complaint on that point, stating "person or presence."
The district court, in preparing a proposed jury instruction, used the language both Fleming and the State had proposed regarding use of "property"-it did not describe the property. The court then used the complaint's language (and the language in the State's proposed instruction) of "person or presence." In full, the sentence in the proposed instruction read: "1. The defendant knowingly took property from the person or presence of Carrington Dean." Fleming concedes his counsel did not object to the proposed instruction or point out its deviation from the complaint. The district court then instructed the jury using that language.
Although Fleming did not complain on appeal about the phrase "person or presence," the Court of Appeals addressed that phrase. It held "taking from the presence"-the language Fleming had proposed-is a broader concept than "taking from a person." Thus, the panel concluded "it is clear the district court's instruction did not expand Fleming's proposed instruction."
The panel next turned to the specific language Fleming challenged: "took property." Fleming argued to the panel, and to us, that the failure to specify the property-the cell phone and the wallet-allowed the jury to consider all the property taken from other *510 parts of the house where he was not present. Thus, he argued, the instruction impermissibly broadened the charge brought against Fleming. Factually, Fleming's argument loses some, but not all, of its steam because the jury acquitted Fleming on the charge of theft relating to a television, a PlayStation, a laptop computer, and watches. But the State also presented evidence of the theft of keys, a purse, clothing, jewelry, and other items. So, factually, there remains property the jury could have potentially considered.
In response, the State raised several legal questions about the effect of variances, especially relating to factual allegations-an issue it argued this court has never settled. Citing caselaw about variances from other jurisdictions, the State argued no error occurred. But the State also argued Fleming could not raise the issue because he invited the error. Fleming responded, raising four reasons the Court of Appeals should not treat the issue as an invited error.
Ultimately, the panel accepted the State's invited-error argument. It stated: "[A]ny error was invited by Fleming when he proposed an aggravated robbery instruction that required the jury to find that
property
had been taken from the presence of Dean" rather than proposing an instruction that listed the cell phone and the wallet as the property alleged to have been taken.
Judge Leben concurred in the result. He questioned whether application of the invited-error doctrine was mandatory or permissive, suggesting it could be permissive.
ANALYSIS
Before the Court of Appeals and us, Fleming presents four reasons the invited-error doctrine should not apply. We have reordered those arguments for purpose of our discussion. First, he asks us to determine that the Legislature expressed its intent through K.S.A. 22-3414(3) to allow review of all claims of error related to a jury instruction. Under this statute, he argues, an appellate court must consider all unobjected-to jury instruction claims-even those invited-under the clear-error test imposed by that statute. Second, he argues he could not have invited the error because the instructions were filed before trial and thus before he knew what evidence the State would admit at trial. Third, he argues the Court of Appeals should have, and now this court should, review his claim of error because it involves a denial of constitutional due process and the constitutional right to a jury trial. Finally, he argues we should adopt the test set out in
State v. Hargrove,
Before we discuss these arguments, we need to consider our standard of review. Fleming's core issue relates to an alleged jury instruction error, which appellate courts analyze through a multistep process.
State v. Plummer
,
Judge Leben's concurring opinion can be read to suggest the Court of Appeals had discretion to apply the invited-error doctrine.
A brief description of the invited-error doctrine and its roots also helps explain our discussion. Essentially, under the doctrine, "[i]t is fundamental that a litigant who invites and leads a trial court into error will not be heard on appeal to complain of that action."
State v. Carter
,
Some cases and commentators suggest the doctrine may have its origins in equitable principles that do not countenance a party manipulating the system to create grounds for appeal. See
United States v. Wells
,
This court typically states the invited-error doctrine without labeling it or identifying its
*512
doctrinal source. E.g.,
Gilliland
,
We urge parties in future cases to more deeply explore whether Kansas cases follow or should follow concepts of estoppel or waiver because the invited-error doctrine's application may vary depending on which doctrinal route applies. See
Steckline Communications, Inc. v. Journal Broadcast Group of KS, Inc
.,
With these general concepts in mind, we turn to Fleming's four arguments.
1. K.S.A. 22-3414(3) does not preclude application of the invited-error doctrine .
Fleming argues that applying the invited-error doctrine to jury instruction issues runs afoul of K.S.A. 22-3414(3). This argument requires us to interpret the statute and thus presents an issue over which we exercise unlimited review.
In re Marriage of Brown
,
The statute at issue- K.S.A. 22-3414(3) -states:
"No party may assign as error the giving or failure to give an instruction, including a lesser included crime instruction, unless the party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict stating distinctly the matter to which the party objects and the grounds of the objection unless the instruction or the failure to give an instruction is clearly erroneous."
The statute ignores invited error. But it does make clear that the mere failure to object to an instruction will not constitute a waiver of a claim about a clearly erroneous instruction. See
State v. Williams
,
We agree with Fleming up to this point. Indeed, the Legislature knows how to prevent all review of an issue or to grant limited review. From that point forward, however, we disagree with Fleming. Although he urges us to interpret the Legislature's silence to
*513
signify an intent to allow review of invited error under the clear error provision, doing so requires us to read words into the statute. But we do not add words to a statute; instead, we read the statutory language as it appears.
Ambrosier
, 304 Kan. at 911,
For example, in keeping with the plain wording of K.S.A. 22-3414(3), we recently rejected the position that a defendant may challenge a clear error in a jury instruction under any circumstances. Rather, "a defendant's ability to allege instructional error, even under K.S.A. 22-3414(3), is not absolute."
State v. Stewart
,
Some cases in which this court applied the invited-error doctrine to a jury instruction issue predate the adoption of K.S.A. 22-3414(3) in 1970 and its civil counterpart in 1963. See, e.g.,
State v. Graham
,
We presume our Legislature knows the law in existence at the time of an enactment. See
In re Tax Appeal of American Restaurant Operations
,
We also note that we are not alone in this interpretation of provisions much like K.S.A. 22-3414(3). For example, federal rules of criminal and civil procedure similarly require objections to a jury instruction to preserve a claim of error. If a party fails to object to an instruction, an appellate court may consider a plain error in the instruction if it affects substantial rights. Fed. R. Civ. P. 51(b) (applying to civil cases and imposing objection requirement except in situations of plain error affecting substantial rights); Fed. R. Crim. P. 30(d) (applying to criminal cases and imposing objection requirement unless Fed. R. Crim. P. 52 [b] applies); Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b) (allowing review for "plain error that affects substantial rights"). And like K.S.A. 22-3414(3), these federal rules do not address how the invited-error doctrine affects the general rule that appellate courts will not review errors that the complaining party failed to present during trial. See
Smith v. Borough of Wilkinsburg
,
Even though these rules are silent about invited error, federal appellate courts apply the doctrine to complaints of error when the complaining party proffers the instruction. See, e.g.,
City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd.
,
In both the Kansas and federal cases, the invited-error doctrine has resulted in no review by the appellate courts. In other words, Kansas courts do not review for clear error, nor do federal courts review for plain error when the invited-error doctrine applies. Thus, we reject Fleming's argument that K.S.A. 22-3414(3) precludes applying the invited-error doctrine to claimed errors in a jury instruction.
2. Pretrial requests may invite error and did so here.
Fleming also argues a court should not conclude he has invited error when he submitted his proposed jury instructions before trial and thus did not know what evidence the State would present. In two decisions filed after the Court of Appeals' rejection of Fleming's arguments, this court has considered the implications of timing. In other words, when did the party propose the instruction and does that matter when considering if the error was invited?
In the earlier of these two cases,
Sasser
, this court held a Court of Appeals panel erred in applying the invited-error doctrine. 305 Kan. at 1233,
Our analysis in
Sasser
began by acknowledging the long-standing general rule that "a defendant cannot complain on appeal about a claimed error that was invited." 305 Kan. at 1235,
We noted, however, that some cases identified bright-line circumstances where the doctrine did not apply. First, the invited-error doctrine does not apply to structural constitutional error. Second, the mere failure to object to a proposed instruction at the instructions conference does not trigger the doctrine. 305 Kan. at 1235,
We then discussed the specifics of the case. Because the defendant had proposed a jury instruction before trial and had failed to object to it at the instructions conference, the Court of Appeals concluded invited error precluded review of the merits of the defendant's argument. 305 Kan. at 1234,
The reason for this conclusion rested in the nature of the error-an alternative means error-and the circumstances surrounding the drafting of instructions. The court noted the defense had submitted the proposed instruction to the court "before an alternative means error
could
be invited because the trial had not yet occurred. In other words, counsel could not appreciate before trial that the instruction would be overbroad-as measured by the State's evidence-until that
*515
evidence was submitted." 305 Kan. at 1238,
The
Sasser
court acknowledged "these issues may present close calls at times, especially because defense counsel has a professional obligation at the instructions conference to match the proposed instructions that are about to be given with the evidence presented at trial." 305 Kan. at 1239,
In contrast, in
State v. Brown
,
Fleming's situation is more analogous to Brown than Sasser . Before trial, Fleming could have assessed the propriety of the instruction he proposed. He complains of error because the language in the instruction differed from the language in the State's complaint. This difference was as obvious before trial as after trial.
Under the circumstances of this case, the fact that Fleming submitted his proposed instruction before trial does not prevent application of the invited-error doctrine.
3. Constitutional rights test does not advance Fleming's cause.
Fleming argues the jury instruction's deviation from the State's allegations in the charging document constitutes a due process violation and given the importance of those rights, the invited-error doctrine should not apply. He largely relies on
Hargrove
,
In essence, the
Hargrove
panel concluded the doctrine should not be applied automatically, but it would preclude consideration of a constitutional issue under the circumstances presented by the record on appeal in that case. The panel discussed whether different rules should apply depending on how the error was introduced: Counsel's strategic decisions to sacrifice a potential constitutional interest for a tactical advantage should be subjected to the invited-error doctrine, but error introduced through counsel's inadvertence and without strategic design should not. "To hold otherwise would deprive an
*516
accused of individual fairness."
The
Hargrove
panel then examined whether the record revealed if the defense had requested the instruction as part of its strategy. On the record before it, the
Hargrove
panel could not make this determination.
Subsequently, this court in
State v. Verser
,
"It is true that the invited error doctrine is inapplicable when a constitutional error is structural. See State v. Hill ,271 Kan. 929 , 934,26 P.3d 1267 (2001) (structural errors so intrinsically harmful, automatic reversal required without regard to existence of effect on outcome), abrogated on other grounds by State v. Voyles ,284 Kan. 239 , 252-53,160 P.3d 794 (2007). But not all constitutional errors qualify for the 'structural' label. In fact, few do. See United States v. Marcus ,560 U.S. 258 , 263,130 S.Ct. 2159 ,176 L.Ed.2d 1012 (2010) (short list of structural errors includes total deprivation of counsel, lack of impartial trial judge, denial of right to self-representation at trial, violation of right to public trial, erroneous reasonable doubt instruction)."299 Kan. at 784 [326 P.3d 1046 ].
Thus, under Verser , raising constitutional issues does not preclude application of the invited-error doctrine.
We then cited
Hargrove
and noted its distinction between mistakes that arise from inadvertence and those that result from strategic decisions. In
Verser
, the record established that a strategic decision had led to the error.
Fleming does not allege structural error. But in contrast to Verser , the record here is not as clear; it is more like the silent record in Hargrove . On appeal, Fleming argues the error in the proposed instruction might have been inadvertent and suggests because it followed a pattern instruction it must have been. But we simply cannot tell.
As the
Hargrove
panel stated, reading the silent record as Fleming proposes "seems flawed in several respects. First, it imputes meaning to a silent record that cannot be inferred and should not be presumed on any logical basis. Second, it rewards a lawyer for deliberate but stealthy manipulation of the process."
The mere fact Fleming raises constitutional issues does not prevent application of the invited-error doctrine.
4. Balancing of interests does not prevent application of the invited-error doctrine here.
In
Hargrove
, the panel stated: "In reconciling invited error and resulting constitutional defects in jury instructions adversely affecting criminal defendants, we balance competing considerations bound up in fairness-individual fairness for the person standing as the accused and institutional fairness for the system as an adjudicatory process."
*517
But one panel of the Court of Appeals may disagree with a previous panel of the same court.
Graham v. Herring
,
Fleming also argues we should adopt Judge Leben's "interest of justice" test, which he appears to measure by whether a defendant could satisfy the heightened review standard of clear error. In large part, Judge Leben's view is based on a reading of K.S.A. 22-3414(3) that this court has not adopted. See
Stewart
, 306 Kan. at 248-49,
Even so, we agree with Judge Leben's and the
Hargrove
panel's conclusion that the invited-error doctrine should not be applied in every case in which the complaining party had proposed the complained-about jury instruction. Instead, as we said in
Sasser
, 305 Kan. at 1235,
We acknowledge the more searching analysis of the facts may deviate from some of our cases that have formalistically applied the doctrine just because the defendant requested the instruction and did not later object at conference or when the court gave it. E.g.,
Jones
, 295 Kan. at 812,
Based on our review of the facts here, we determine invited error precludes review of Fleming's alleged instruction error. Defense counsel relied on the PIK Crim. 4th 54.410 to describe the first element of aggravated robbery: "the defendant knowingly took property from the (person) (presence) of
insert name
." The charging document was clear that the State alleged Fleming took only two items when committing aggravated robbery. The document was also clear that other items taken would be at issue in the theft count. Unlike counsel in
Sasser
, Fleming's counsel had notice of the particular facts the State alleged supported its case and that those facts could be of particular significance to different charges brought. See
Sasser
, 305 Kan. at 1238,
We acknowledge there is a possibility that defense counsel's actions here resulted from inadvertence rather than trial strategy. But Fleming does not argue, nor do we perceive, any potential error was structural. If counsel's error resulted from inadvertence, Fleming may pursue relief through a K.S.A. 60-1507 action. See
Hargrove
,
We conclude invited error precludes our review of Fleming's asserted jury instruction error on these facts.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of KANSAS, Appellee, v. Willie FLEMING, Appellant.
- Cited By
- 58 cases
- Status
- Published