Don't have all the links and can't get them right now because I am ellipticallling (word or not?!), BUT I have a theory about the jury's ? This AM:
If you watch the judge reading jury instructions on YouTube croakerqueen day 3 part 2 starting at 14 min (final jury instructions), she reads the paragraph quoted earlier in this thread about letting the judge know if they are not unanimous.
Then watch when the judge gives the final, FINAL jury instructions about the verdict form on YouTube croakerqueen day 3 part 4 (rebuttal and charge to the jury) starting at 10:44- there she describes three boxes for the jury to choose from to check for their verdict (death, life, or "no unanimous agreement").
iMO the jury was going through these instructions and realized that the first part said to tell the judge if they were not unanimous but the second part said to mark the box on the verdict form if they ended up not unanimous. They wanted clarification.
Also, someone earlier posted that they asked "at this stage" in the note to the judge - I think they meaty have meant "at this phase" - ie during the PENALTY phase ("stage") do they let the judge know if they are not unanimous as they would have done during the GUILT or AGGRAVATION phase ( verdict forms on those did not have a box for "no unanimous agreement" IIRC) or do they check the daggum box on the verdict form?
I think it is a very detail oriented jury and they stumbled upon the conflicting instructions about what to do IF they ever ended up in a position of not being unanimous. I don't blame them for asking for clarification.
Sorry if this is crazy with typos - hard to elliptical and type on iPad "contemporaneously".