Derek Jamal Flowers v. State of Florida, 149 So. 3d 1206

Flowers was charged with kidnapping, robbery, and aggravated fleeing; robbery and aggravated fleeing were dismissed as time-barred prior to trial.
The State proceeded to trial on the kidnapping count (a felony); defense counsel requested a jury instruction on false imprisonment, a lesser included third-degree felony.
The trial court gave the lesser-included instruction and the jury convicted Flowers of false imprisonment.
After verdict and dismissal of the jury, the court raised whether false imprisonment was also time-barred (third-degree felony generally subject to a 3-year limitations period).
Defense counsel had previously relied on the statute-of-limitations defense to dismiss other counts and admitted seeking the lesser-included instruction as trial strategy; counsel never objected to the instruction at any stage.
The trial court and the First District held the invited-error doctrine bars Flowers from challenging the conviction on statute-of-limitations grounds because counsel requested and used the instruction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Flowers may challenge a conviction on a lesser-included offense as time-barred when defense counsel requested the instruction	Flowers argued the false-imprisonment conviction was time-barred and therefore reversible	State argued Flowers invited the error by requesting the instruction and failing to object, so he cannot now complain	Court held invited-error doctrine bars Flowers’ challenge; conviction affirmed

Anderson v. State, 93 So. 3d 1201 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (explains a party cannot complain of an error they invited)
Weber v. State, 602 So. 2d 1316 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992) (approves barring statute-of-limitations challenge where defense requested and argued a lesser-included instruction)
Ray v. State, 403 So. 2d 956 (Fla. 1981) (failure to object to an invited instruction can preclude a claim of fundamental error)