State v. Nissalke

The court goes to great lengths to explain why the rule we set out in State v. Mims does not entitle Nissalke to a new trial. But to paraphrase Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the court “doth protest too much, methinks.” See William Shakespeare, Hamlet act 3, sc. 2 (“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”). In Mims, we set forth the rule “that in any criminal case any communication relating to the case occurring during a judge’s uninvited entry into the jury room during deliberations and in the absence of defendant and counsel constitutes reversible error.” 306 Minn. 159, 165, 235…