Kitchens v. State

In Kitchens v. State, 823 S.W.2d 256 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991), the defendant was charged with capital murder and sentenced to death. On appeal, he complained that the trial court erred in submitting alternative theories of committing capital murder in a single application paragraph in the charge. He argued that the verdict was not unanimous since six members of the jury may have found him guilty of murder in the course of sexual assault, while the other six members of the jury may have found him guilty of murder in the course of robbery. See Kitchens, 823 S.W.2d at 257. The Court stated that "it is appropriate where the alternate theories of committing the same offense are submitted to the jury in the disjunctive for the jury to return a general verdict if the evidence is sufficient to support a finding under any of the theories submitted." Kitchens, 823 S.W.2d at 258.