Berghahn v. State

Our present code of criminal procedure provides, and probably all its predecessors did as well, that a verdict is “a written declaration by a jury of its decision of the issue submitted to it ...,” Article 37.01, Y.A.C.C.P. The codes have also recognized a possibility that a jury verdict may be informal, meaning the jury had not “reduced [it] to the proper form,” Article 37.-10, id. A means of correcting an informal verdict is indicated, ibid.

Yet, the Legislature has never seen fit to prescribe a mechanism for the jury to reduce its declaration to writing in the proper form. Consequently,…