How have courts treated technical hairsplitting in the context of instructions to a jury?

California, United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Medina, B290264 (Cal. App. 2019):

(2011) 51 Cal.4th 894, 940.) "Jurors do not sit in solitary isolation booths parsing instructions for subtle shades of meaning in the same way that lawyers might. Differences among them in interpretation of instructions may be thrashed out in the deliberative process, with commonsense understanding of the instructions in the light of all that has taken place at the trial likely to prevail over technical hairsplitting." (Boyde v. California (1990) 494 U.S. 370, 380-381.)

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How have courts treated technical hairsplitting in the context of instructions to a jury?

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