Top Appeals Court Reviewing Nurse’s Murder Case

HOUSTON (AP) – The state’s top criminal appeals court has agreed to review whether a former East Texas nurse was properly convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole for killing five dialysis patients by injecting them with bleach. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Wednesday it will consider written arguments on whether the jury instructions at Kimberly Saenz’s 2012 trial failed to require a unanimous agreement on which individuals Saenz killed at a clinic in Lufkin. Saenz’s attorneys argue a jury must unanimously agree on the identity and the number of murder victims to support the capital murder charge. A lower appeals court earlier this year upheld her conviction and sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeals ultimately could order a new trial for Saenz.