Quantum of Reasonable Doubt

A Quantum of Reasonable Doubt
By Damon Nomad

Stacy bounced down the hallway pushing the laundry cart, she has been working at the exclusive five-star hotel in Manhattan for nearly two years, but she still has dreams of acting. She is playing back the audition for the detergent commercial in her mind, hoping maybe she will get a callback. She sighed muttering to herself, "How low have your expectations gotten Stacy?"

She scanned down the checklist as she stopped at room 608, she knocked. "Housekeeping." She waited a few seconds, "Housekeeping." Okay good already checked out, she pushed the cart inside, knowing there could be worse jobs.

Doors flew open on the sixth floor, in response to a frightened scream from 608. Stacy fumbled with the phone trying to remember the number for security, her eyes fixated on the body lying on the floor. Nearly as startled by who it was as by the shock of finding a dead body, everyone knew Monica Green.

********

Detective Lenny Springer wished he hadn't gotten the case, the media coverage had been intense since day one. It's been nearly three weeks since the maid at the Excelsior View hotel in Manhattan found actress Monica Green, lying dead in a hotel room. Every night the entertainment channel had exclusive coverage and even the major networks gave it a mention. Lenny's wife was pestering him to dress nicer, she doesn't like his old overcoat and he always had a loose and crooked tie knot.

Lenny sat in the conference room waiting for the assistant district attorney, Claire Rhodes. He looked at his watch again, muttering quietly "They are never on time." Almost on cue, the door opened, and Claire zipped in with one of her prosecuting attorneys trailing behind. Claire glanced his way, "Sorry we're late. This is Daryl Mason." She motioned for Daryl to sit as she started to pace, "Have a seat Daryl, you're making me nervous just standing there." She kept pacing like a caged cat, "Springer are you still onto Roger Stein as the only suspect?"

Lenny stared at Claire, "You gonna sit Claire? Sit down and breathe."

She glanced his way and exhaled slowly and took a seat next to Daryl across from Lenny at the conference room table, "Yeah okay."

Lenny opened his notebook, "Bottom line, he is the only one in the room within the timeline." They listened as Lenny tracked through the eyewitness and security camera reviews. Tracking billionaire Roger Stein spending a long weekend at the hotel with his girlfriend Monica Green. Stein had been coming and going since they had checked in, Green never leaving the room after checking in. Stein left the room for the last time approximately four hours before the maid discovered Green's body. Lenny closed his notebook, "No one came into that room after he left, no balcony, and the windows do not open beyond a crack. There are security cameras on both ends of the hall, one on the north end has a clear view of the door. The next time that door opened is when the maid got there."

Claire frowned, tapping her polished fingernails slowly on the conference room table top, "How precise is the medical examiner on the time of death?"

Lenny looked back at his notebook flipping a few pages, rolling his tongue inside his cheek. "You know that's where we have a problem, the security guard that got there turned the AC on full blast, he thought it would preserve the body. We still don't know how long it was on and the ME was delayed in traffic, it was a bit of a mess. The best the ME can do is a six-hour window before the maid found the body, anytime in that window."

Claire glanced at Daryl as she tugged on an earring, Take notes, Daryl." Her eyes narrowed as she summarized the bottom line, "Stein left the room four hours before the maid arrived, so he was there two hours when she could have ingested the poisoned wine. He had been with her for a little more than three hours." She shrugged at the inevitable, "The only two people in that room in the six-hour window were Green and Stein." She gestured to Lenny, "Does the time it takes for the poison to act help nail it down any more accurately?"

Lenny shook his head, "No, she would have died nearly instantly after ingesting the poison, the potassium cyanide concentration of the wine still in the glass was equivalent to about a teaspoon dissolved into the wine glass. It could have been minutes before the maid opened the door or while Stein was in the room."

Claire looked at Lenny with a questioning gaze, "Nothing with trace evidence or where the poison came from, anything to tie it to Stein?"

"Stein's fingerprints are not on the glass or the bottle, acquaintances of Stein say he does not drink. The only prints on the glasses or the bottle are Green and the hotel staff, they have been cleared. Bottle was delivered by room service shortly after Stein arrived; he was paying for the room. Not a trace of the powder anywhere, other than what was dissolved in the single glass of wine. No way to track the origin of the chemicals. Either she put it into her drink sometime after he left, pouring it in from something disposable she could flush down the toilet. We checked there is no trace. But it is possible." Lenny tapped his notebook, "Either that or Stein slipped it in and he flushed something he carried it in that was disposable down the toilet or carried the container away when he left and got rid of it. Those are the only two explanations."

Claire stared at her reflection in the window, "And you don't believe it's suicide."

Lenny leaned forward slowly shaking his head, "Green's friends confirm she had told Stein the relationship was over early that afternoon but she agreed to meet with him that evening. Three close friends' testimony and text messages, support what they say. She just bought a new home and recently signed a contract for a new television series, no way it is suicide."

Lenny's eyes narrowed, "It's him, means, motive, and the only one with opportunity in that six-hour window."

Claire walked to the window looking at the traffic crawling along the street below, "This makes me nervous, a brilliant and reclusive wealthy inventor and a purely circumstantial case." She folded her arms, "We can't trace the cyanide to him, but he would certainly be able to pull this off. He hasn't opened his mouth for us once, he is going to say suicide, she flushed any residue down the toilet and took the poison after he left. That's the only possible defense."

Claire turned back around nodding to Lenny, "Okay let's charge him." Lenny was a top-notch detective; Claire knew this was going to be a high-profile trial. She hoped someone would say something to him about his clothes and he could run a comb through his hair a little more often.

********

Phyllis Springer was watching world news network in the late afternoon. She turned up the volume when she saw the tagline streaming at the bottom of the screen, WNN Exclusive Arrest in Tragic Death of Monica Green. Phyllis sat on the sofa, mumbling to herself, "My goodness Lenny, you could have combed your hair."

She listened to the reporter, "WNN was on the scene today at the corporate offices of billionaire inventor Roger Stein. Detective Leonard Springer with two uniformed officers made the arrest, Springer refused to comment or answer questions." Phyllis waved at the television, "You could have at least looked at the camera, you look more like a criminal than Stein."

She listened as the WNN news anchor continued, "We have also learned that Lance Thorpe, the flamboyant defense attorney will be representing Stein. Thorpe is an interesting and brilliant character, not only an attorney, he has a doctorate in Physics, with published work in quantum mechanics. This promises to be a high-profile and intensely watched trial. There are also rumors that Stein became agitated with reports that Green committed suicide. Because the reports point to him as the only motive she might have for such a desperate act. But it was either him or she did the deed herself, there are no other explanations from sources close to the investigation, let's hear from our legal correspondent."

The handsome well-dressed attorney-turned-news correspondent continued, "Yes, the choice of Thorpe is particularly interesting for another reason, he has made a reputation with getting criminals off through jury nullification, getting them to ignore the facts and law. A highly unethical and perverse practice, in which he seems to take great pride. If his client claims he is not guilty and he does not want Green to have died by her own hand, what other explanation could there be? Thorpe is going to have to find another explanation and a suspect, he is certainly clever. We need to watch and see."

********

Claire looked at the court filing again, her mouth twisted into a frown. She pointed a finger at Daryl sitting across from her at the conference room table, "One witness, an expert on physics." She looked at the picture Daryl had on his laptop. "This guy looks familiar, what do you have on him?"

Daryl looked at the biography on his laptop giving Claire a summary, "Professor Fredrich Gottlieb, you have probably seen him on television, a popular documentary series on physics called Quantum World, based on a best-selling book he wrote. Doctorate in physics from Stanford and postgraduate research at CERN laboratory and a tenured professor at Princeton. The Nobel Prize in physics last year, something about quark spin and wave-particle duality." Daryl shook his head, "I looked it up and tried to read it, I can't make heads or tails of what it is about, sorry."

Claire slumped forward, leaning on her arms crossed on the table, "Thorpe is up to something, you don't need a Nobel prize winner in physics to try and prove suicide. Pretrial motions are tomorrow, we might get a hint. Thorpe hasn't been on TV, he is usually all over the talk shows trying his case to the public, he is up to something. Guy has been warned by the bar association so many times, but he always skates past any sanction. We need to be ready for anything."

There were more surprises the next day, a written motion and argument for a televised trial, and that night Lance Thorpe hit the talk show circuits. Claire watched him that evening as he started to make his case to the American public, "We want this on television so that the American people can be sure this is fair and to hold the judge and jury accountable. Juries need to be accountable; they need to come to a case with an open mind and listen to experts, trust in what experts tell them. Not their simple-minded prejudices!"

Claire turned off the television, she knew Thorpe was going after the jury. But she had no clue as to how, he seemed to be ready to antagonize them, simple-minded prejudice?

********

After a week, the prosecution's case was coming to a close, Claire was finishing with Lenny on the stand going through the evidence and thorough investigation. Claire was pleased with the new suit and tie; she suspected a loving wife was helping behind the scenes. She wrapped up. Judge Little looked to Lance Thorpe, Thorpe shook his head, "No questions for this witness."

Claire sighed, what is he up to? Thorpe had not objected once and not asked a single question. She stood, "the prosecution rests your honor."

Judge Nigel Little looked at the clock, "Okay let's start with the defense's case tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Judge Little rapped the gavel sharply as the jury was seated, "Mr. Thorpe, is the defense ready?"

Lance Thorpe stood up smiling looking at the jury, "Yes your honor, the defense calls Nobel Laureate Professor Fredrich Gottlieb to the witness stand."

Thorpe went through the preliminaries having Gottlieb summarize his illustrious background to establish his bona fides as an expert. Claire was surprised by Gottlieb's commanding presence and he talked authoritatively, crossing the line to arrogance. But he was effective and talked in terms anyone can understand. She jotted a note on her notepad, intimidating the jury, with an authority figure.

Thorpe was polished, Claire figured his suit cost as much as her first car. Thorpe moved past the preliminaries. "You heard Ms. Rhodes in her opening statement. the elements they are seeking to show, means, motive, and opportunity, let's talk about opportunity."

Claire reacted instinctively like she was in moot court, "Objection, counsel is testifying and going beyond the scope of the expert's area of knowledge, he is not a legal scholar."

Judge Little nodded in agreement, "Sustained, counselor please let the witness testify and stay within his scope of expert knowledge."

Thorpe maintained his composure, "Understood your honor, I think you would agree that opportunity, depends on causation and physical location and those are matters within the realm of physics. Our expert is uniquely qualified to discuss causation and physical location. I would hope for some leeway, our case stands on this one witness to show reasonable doubt in this element of the prosecution's case."

Judge Little leaned back, conscious of the TV cameras. People across the country focused on him at this very moment, wondering if this judge was fair. "Okay, I'll give you a bit of leeway counselor."

Thorpe had just a hint of a smile as he continued, "Let's talk about observation and common sense. Have you discussed these in your popular published works on the history of science Professor Gottlieb?"

Claire held back her instinct to object to relevance; she didn't want the jury to think she was attacking with legally tedious complaints and this seemed harmless.

Gottlieb turned his attention to the jury as if he was lecturing to a class of simple undergraduates, "Two classic examples were the strongly held beliefs that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth." He pointed a finger at the jurors, "These were the widely held beliefs of scientists and the public a few centuries ago, to say differently would give you the label of lunatic. The reason for these beliefs were everyday common sense observations, there were no pictures of the world from space, the sun seemed to move through the sky and there is no bodily sense the earth is spinning on an axis. What happened when brilliant scientists came forward to challenge that common sense notion? The ignorant and poorly educated public attacked them!"

Claire could see the strategy starting to emerge, making the jurors feel like they were ignorant, but she still could not see how Thorpe was going to use this to his advantage. She focused her attention as Thorpe continued, with his direct examination.

Thorpe nodded slowly, "How does that relate to this crime, common sense and observation?"

Gottlieb glared at the jury, "The nature of observation itself and how it relates to causation, as demonstrated by the great founders of the science of quantum mechanics!"

Thorpe waved at Gottlieb, "You have been awarded the Nobel in Physics for this specialty, so you are a world-leading scholar in this area. Why is it so important to understand quantum physics in this trial?"

"The factual realities of quantum physics seem to deny our common sense view of the world of what we observe, the same as the flat world society of a few hundred years ago."

Thorpe's expression became somber, "Putting a fine point on it for the good reputation of Mr. Stein, when and how did Ms. Green die as a matter of these scientific principles of physics?"

Gottlieb leaned forward, shaking his fist at the jurors, looking each of them in the eye as he talked, "As one of the world's leading experts on quantum physics, Ms. Green was not dead until the maid opened the door to the room. That act of observation was the cause of Ms. Green's death. As sure as the earth is spherical and orbits the sun. She was not dead until that moment in time!"

Claire gasped silently in horror and shock, she saw the surprised faces of the jurors and she heard them gasp collectively. She yelled out instinctively, "Objection!"

Judge Little stared at Claire, "Grounds? What are the grounds of your objection?"

Claire was momentarily stumped, her mind searching through the options, "Presumes facts not in evidence, lacks foundation for the opinion."

Judge Little looked at Thorpe, "Please have the witness lay a foundation for this statement, I reserve judgment on the objection."

Thorpe smiled; this is exactly where he wanted to go. "Is this speculation, some crazy theory only demonstrated in archaic solutions to advanced mathematics? Is there real-world, concrete evidence of this claim about the cause of Ms. Green's death?"

Gottlieb kept his focus on the jurors, "Experiments repeated thousands of times across the globe have proven this to be true. The first modern demonstration in 1927 called the double slit experiment using electrons, is simple to understand. I would like to use a whiteboard to draw some simple pictures to help the jury understand, no mathematics is necessary."

Judge Little was interested to see for himself, he nodded his agreement. "Reasonable request for an expert witness." The whiteboard was brought in and set up. The entire courtroom and TV audience watched as Gottlieb started his mini-lecture. Claire saw Gottlieb was also quite gifted at drawing illustrations as he started. A very effective witness, Thorpe chose well.

Claire noticed that Gottlieb changed his demeanor, smiling at the jurors as he started drawing, like a kindly genius teaching the simple village people. "We have a dartboard hanging here on a wall of gray gypsum board only about six feet away. There is a steel barrier wall, one foot in front of the gypsum wall with these two narrow vertical slits cut in the steel. The slits are about as wide as two darts and you can see the slits are about two inches apart and centered around the bullseye. What will the pattern of darts on the target and gypsum board look like after throwing maybe a hundred darts?"

A juror raised his hand like a student with the answer, Judge Little intervened, "No comments from the jury."

Gottlieb continued, "Of course you all know, some of the darts hit the barrier and fall to the ground." He drew a group of tightly clustered dots on the target and gypsum wall behind where the slits were. "There will be two tightly grouped clusters of darts behind the two slits, it's common sense yes."

Gottlieb erased the board and drew the gypsum board wall, target, and barrier with slits again. "Something happened when scientists shot, or let's say threw electrons at the dart board. The scale is different, electrons are so small but we can use the same picture and approach. This is the pattern that forms on the back wall." He drew bands of dots grouped in vertical lines, the lines separated by open space all along the wall including lines at the far edges and directly behind the area between the open slits. "This is the pattern that has repeated thousands of times since 1927 when the experiment was first performed. How can an electron be over here where there is no passageway through a slit, what does this mean?" He tapped the whiteboard, a line of dots on the far edge far away from a slit.

He answered his question, "The scientists of the time immediately recognized the pattern, it is the pattern of light waves or even water waves, when waves pass through two openings in a barrier. Two waves form on the backside emerging from the slits creating these wave interference patterns, as the waves collide. But electrons have mass they are particles, they are not waves, how can this be? What does this mean?"

Gottlieb saw the puzzled expressions, "It meant the electron is both a particle and a wave, or more precisely the electron's location in space can only be estimated as a probability wave function. Until the actual location is observed, the electron has no precise location, it is indeterminate. It's not that we do not know, but it does not exist at a precise location! It's true for any particle or even collection of particles."

Gottlieb knew the doubt they felt, "Rest assured this is not a trick, it is a repeatable experimental fact. Further experiments show even more than this result when experimenters were able to track the path of a single electron. In essence, tracking the electron as it passed through the barrier. The electrons no longer acted as a wave, the process of observation made them act like darts. Passing through a slit and ending up on the wall behind the slits, no more interference pattern." He tapped on the whiteboard, "The process of observation had determined the results."

Gottlieb turned his attention back to the jury, "You can deny this or ignore it, but it is as real as the world is spherical and orbits the sun. You are made of subatomic particles as was Ms. Green, as surely as gravity holds you in your seat, Ms. Green was not dead until the maid came through that door. It was that act that determined her fate." He gestured to Roger Stein, "Mr. Stein was long gone by that time."

He smiled at them holding his hands up, "Does this story sound familiar to you, what has happened here in this case? It is similar to the famous thought experiment referred to as Schrodinger's cat. A cat in a box with a vial of poison and a means for its dispersal, Erwin Schrodinger the developer of the quantum wave equation told the story, making the point that the cat is neither dead nor alive, just don't open the box."

Gottlieb's demeanor changed again; a harsh expression as he shook his fist at the jury. "It took brave people to believe the earth was not flat hundreds of years ago, people willing to listen to the experts with an open mind. Don't be simple-minded cowards. You can ask any other expert on quantum physics, the world's greatest minds will tell you the same!"

Claire knew she could object to these last few statements, but it would do no good, the jury would still remember the admonition from Professor Gottlieb broadcast on national television. Thorpe had been clever in his jury selection. She had seen the hints of what he was looking for people who liked conspiracy theories and science fiction but not ones who were deep sophisticated thinkers. People with sensitive egos and afraid to look stupid. Thorpe wanted people who could be swayed by a world-renowned expert that something as fantastic as quantum uncertainty could be a foundation for reasonable doubt. Thorpe's efforts to get it all on television was intended to make the jurors even more self-conscious not wanting to be perceived as ignorant or unsophisticated. They all know their identities would eventually be known and the TV audience would hear the charge that they were simple-minded cowards if they did not take Gottlieb's advice. Thorpe was clever and she knew he could pull it off, juries could do strange things. It would come down to closing arguments, that would be her last chance to bump them back to reality. A non-quantum reality.

********

The next day Claire was surprised to see that Stein and Thorpe were already at the defense counsel's table when she arrived, no one else was in the courtroom. She thought she would be the first one in, she wanted to run through her summary outline a few more times. She headed to her spot, "Good morning."

Stein nodded but did not speak, Thorpe looked her way, "Morning Ms. Rhodes."

Claire was first with her closing argument summarizing their case and attacking the seed of doubt that Thorpe tried to plant with quantum physics arguments from a world-renowned expert. Her thrust was that these uncertainties were remote mathematical possibilities insufficient for reasonable doubt. She finished up knowing she would get one more quick bite at the apple, for rebuttal after Thorpe's closing. She sat back down, nervously waiting for Thorpe's closing arguments.

She knew Lance Thorpe was in his element for the closing argument, his polished speaking style and good looks were used to his advantage. She was surprised to see that he stayed seated, "Ms. Rhodes did get one thing right in her summary argument, this is about reasonable doubt, but her talk about mathematics and numerical odds was all a bit off the point. The real point is a lack of certainty or as Professor Gottlieb called it, uncertainty. How can you be certain of what caused Ms. Green's death? Certain enough to put a man in jail for life?"

Thorpe paused and took a large coin out of his pocket with his left hand, he held it up and placed it on the table in front of him, "Professor Gottlieb talked about quantum tunneling during part of his testimony, how subatomic particles can appear on the other side of a barrier and that real-world objects can do the same. He said for example if you drop something like a coin on a table enough times, it will pass right through. We just don't have the patience to try enough times and wait for it to happen." He held up his right hand, and turned it side to side, showing there was nothing.

He paused staring at the coin on the tabletop, "I saw the doubt in your eyes when the professor talked about quantum tunneling, why? Because you have never seen it with your own eyes." With a swift motion before Judge Little could stop him Thorpe's left hand slapped on top of the coin as his right hand went under the table. He slowly raised his right hand and fully extended his arm holding the coin high in the air. Then he opened his left hand turning it side to side, it was empty and there was no coin on the tabletop. "Now you have seen it with your own eyes!"

A person in the gallery in the front row exclaimed, "Quantum tunneling, just like a subatomic particle!"

Judge Little smashed his gavel down as chaos erupted in the jury box and the crowded gallery, "Everyone be quiet! Counselor, you better have a good and truthful explanation for this stunt! I am close to throwing you into jail for contempt."

Thorpe was ready, "Yes this was not quantum tunneling, but sleight of hand. There are two coins, this ring on my left hand is not my wedding ring, but a strong magnet. The second coin was taped under the table this morning before we got started. When I slapped my left hand to the table the magnet picked up the first coin on the table, I slipped it back into my jacket pocket while you focused on my right hand rising as I showed you the second coin which I had peeled off from the tape under the table. The use of visual aids in closing arguments is allowed for in the rules of procedure, your honor. As Professor Gottlieb said, the magic of today is the science of tomorrow and I needed to make the point about how deceptive our senses can be!"

Judge Little looked to Claire, "Counselor, what is your position?"

Claire leaned over asking Daryl to get something for her, "It is bad form to object to closing arguments, even if a bit unorthodox. I would like a break, it's nearly lunch, maybe two hours then we will do our rebuttal. I will keep it short."

Judge Little slammed the gavel, "Back in two hours."

********


Claire was nervously sitting at the counsel's table. Daryl was still not back and court was back in session in five minutes, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Daryl handed her a coin and whispered, "Finally found one, tails."

Claire started on her rebuttal, "Lance Thorpe, he is smart, very smart. He is counting on you being intimidated by Professor Gottlieb, the professor is impressive and no doubt what he says is true for subatomic particles, but what is true in the quantum world is not necessarily true in the macroscopic world we live in, not in practical terms."

Claire flipped the coin and caught it on the top of her left hand, "Permission to approach the jury."

Judge Little smiled, "Mr. Thorpe I gave you the benefit of using presentational aids, we are going to let Ms. Rhodes have some as well."

Claire walked over and without looking she announced, "Its tails." She removed her right hand, showing it to one of the jurors.

The juror smiled, "Tails."

Claire flipped it again as she walked to the other end of the jury box, again keeping it covered, "Its tails."

The juror looked, "Tails." Claire continued flipping and showing it calling out tails as she talked, letting a juror look and announce the result. "Of course, as you all suspect it is a weighted trick coin, but according to Professor Gottlieb I should not know whether it is heads or tails until you observe it. Even though it is weighted, there is a small one-in-a-million chance it could be a head. I have not been wrong yet."

She flipped it again, "Tails again."

The juror looked, "Tails." Claire smiled, "That's ten in a row right, we could do it a thousand times, it will be the same and it was not determined by observation, even though it is composed of subatomic particles. You know who killed Monica Green and it wasn't the maid who opened the door and it wasn't Schrodinger's cat. Don't be afraid of using the good common sense that you had when you first walked into this courtroom."

********

Claire was in her office trying to read a law journal article, she was worried the jury was into the third day of deliberation. Lance Thorpe had been successful in planting a seed of doubt with some of the jury and she is worried about the impact beyond this one case. Daryl poked his head into her office, "The jury is in." They rushed to the courthouse.

Judge Little looked at the jury, "I understand you have a verdict."

The foreman stood up, "Yes we do your honor."

Americans all over the country were tuned in on TV waiting to hear the result of the trial of the century. Professor Gottlieb turned off the television, he chuckled, "Indeterminate."