i remember it was a NY thing
but i cannot recall if it was the 3 theories thing or the misdemeanor to felony thing...
I believe it’s both.
Falsifying business records (crime A) in NY is a misdemeanor, unless you do it with the intent to further another crime (crime B), in which case it’s a felony.
The People in this case offered three possible crime Bs: crime B1, crime B2, and crime B3.
For any given count, to reach a guilty felony verdict, all 12 jurors have to agree that 1) the defendant committed crime A, and that the defendant did so with the intent to further any one of crimes B1, B2, or B3. They don’t all have to agree on WHICH crime B the defendant intended to further, just that he intended to further one of them.
As I understand it, 11 jurors could say “he committed crime A with the intent to further crime B1,” and one juror could say “he committed crime A to further crime B2” and get a felony guilty verdict.
If 11 say he committed crime A in order to further crime B1, and one juror says he committed crime A but NOT with intent to further any of the crime Bs, the best they could do is a misdemeanor conviction.
Based on what I read in the jury instructions, that’s a bit of a simplification but generally accurate.