State v. Logan

In State v. Logan, 200 Ariz. 564, 565-66, P 9, 30 P.3d 631, 632-33 (2001), the Arizona Supreme Court restated and to some degree clarified the principle of invited error. 200 Ariz. at 565, P 8, 30 P.3d at 632. As the court indicated, invited error precludes a party who causes or initiates an error from profiting from the error on appeal. Id. If the error is invited, the offending party has no recourse on appeal even under the exacting standard of fundamental error. Id. at 565, P 9, 30 P.3d at 632. As the court explained, the policy behind allowing the invited error doctrine to prevent the vindication of fundamental procedural rights is the need to police strategic gamesmanship by parties who would inject error into a proceeding in the hope of profiting from the error on appeal. Id. at 565-66, PP 8, 11, 30 P.3d at 632-33. Given that purpose, courts must look "to the source of the error, which must be the party urging the error" to determine if invited error occurred. Id. at 566, P 11, 30 P.3d at 633. In Logan, the Arizona Supreme Court held: If an error is invited, we do not consider whether the alleged error is fundamental, for doing so would run counter to the purposes of the invited error doctrine. Instead, as we have repeatedly held, we will not find reversible error when the party complaining of it invited the error. 200 Ariz. at 565-66, P 9, 30 P.3d at 632-33.