Micropython freezing half way through print, due to returning a variable from a function

[MATTYGILO]

I have made code on an esp32s3 which communicates with firebase server and returns a response. The response is only a couple bytes and is a json. I am using the standard urequests script and its Response class which is resp. I can print and do anything I want with resp_json, however when I go to return resp_json the esp32 freezes half way through print as you can see

I also have stacks of free memory which is not the problem.

requests json() self.content: b'{"misc":{}}'
requests json() json_content: {'misc': {}}
firebase communicate new_dict: {'misc': {}}
Before
==================================================
Warning: communicate is not fully implemented
=================

resp = run_function(...)

print("firebase mem_info:", micropython.mem_info())

# TODO: Fix this very important bug
# TODO: An error is therefore definitely occuring in resp.json()

# TODO: Question 1: Does merely printing resp cause the error? No
#       Question 2: Does merely printing resp.content cause the error? No
#       Question 3: Does merely printing resp.status_code cause the error? No
#       Question 4: Does merely printing resp.json() cause the error? No
#       Question 5: Does storing resp.json() in a variable cause the error? No
#       Question 6: Does returning resp.json() cause the error? Yes
resp_json = resp.json()

# Create a new dictionary object and copy the values
new_dict = copy_dict(resp_json)

print("firebase communicate new_dict:", new_dict)

# If success
if True:  #int(resp.status_code) == 200:
    print("Before")
    time.sleep(10)
    print("="*50)
    print("Warning: communicate is not fully implemented")
    print("="*50)
    return new_dict

[robert-hh]

What happens after return new_dict? If the device is powered down or set to sleep, the print you have started may not finish. What happens if you add a sufficiently long sleep_ms() after the second print(), or sys.stdout.flush()?

[MATTYGILO]

Nothing happens after return new_dict, I have had code where the print after returning from the function freezes, it is merely returning the variable which causes the freezing

[peterhinch]

It's hard to assess this because it is only a fragment of code. Evidently it's the body of a function because it has a return statement, but the function definition and the context in which it is called are absent.

[peterhinch]

@MATTYGILO I am moving this to discussions because there is no evidence that there is a MP bug here. If you can produce a minimal complete script which others can run to demonstrate a MP bug, please raise a new report.