State v. Houle

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed Randy Joseph Houle’s criminal judgment for aggravated assault and false information to law enforcement. The court held that Houle waived any challenge to the circumstantial-evidence jury instruction because he requested and agreed to the instruction and did not object at trial.

Holdings

1. A party may not challenge on appeal a ruling or trial proceeding that the party invited or affirmatively accepted. Because Houle requested the instruction, agreed to the jury instructions, and did not object or request additional language, any alleged error was waived.
2. The invited-error doctrine would not apply to a structural constitutional error, but Houle conceded that the alleged instructional error was not constitutional in nature; therefore, no structural-error exception permitted appellate review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court improperly instructed the jury on the use of direct and circumstantial evidence.
2. Whether Houle could obtain appellate relief based on an alleged jury-instruction error that he requested or affirmatively accepted at trial.

Disposition

affirmed