Is Your Police Report Reality or Just a “Label”? (A Lesson from Quantum Physics)

By: John Guidry

You know I love physics. You know I don’t understand it, but I do have some questions that need answering. Today’s mystery involves quantum mechanics and, believe it or not, it has a lot to do with how we handle criminal cases here in Central Florida.

Here’s Richard Feynman’s observation:

“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics… Do you not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‘But how can it be like that?’ because you will get ‘down the drain’, into a blind alley from which nobody has escaped.”

It makes me feel a little better when a Nobel Prize-winning physicist claims that nobody understands this stuff. But let’s look at the fundamentals, because they remind me of the difference between a police report and what actually happened on the street.

The Double-Slit Mystery

Matter, at the most basic level, behaves in odd ways. Things like photons and electrons can behave as either a particle or a wave. If the electron is a wave, it will be found in many different places all at once. This has been verified through the famous double-slit experiment.

The experiment shoots a single photon at two tiny doors (slits). Behind them is a detector.

• The Expectation: If a photon is just a particle, it should go through one slit or the other.
• The Reality: The photon creates an interference pattern on the back wall, meaning it went through both slits at the same time (behaving like a wave).

But here is where it gets insane: If you decide to measure which slit the photon goes through, it stops acting like a wave. It “decides” to go through only one slit. Somehow, the act of observing it changes its behavior.

Facing charges where the “facts” don’t match reality?

Don’t let a police report label you. Call John today at (407) 423-1117.

The “Observer Effect” in Criminal Defense

So, why am I talking about subatomic particles on a criminal defense website? Because Feynman said something else that hits home for any trial lawyer:

“You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

In the criminal justice system, the State loves “labels.” They love to name the bird without looking at it.

• The Label: “Resisting Officer Without Violence.”
• The Reality: A citizen asking, “Why am I being arrested?”
• The Label: “Furtive Movements.”
• The Reality: A driver scratching their nose or reaching for a registration paper.

Just like in the double-slit experiment, the “observer” (the police officer) often changes the reality of the situation. An officer writing a report is creating a “measurement” that forces a complex, fluid situation into a single, rigid box. They label a behavior to fit a statute, even if the physics of the situation don’t add up.

Case in Point: The Label vs. The Evidence

We see this constantly in DUI cases and Drug Possession cases across Orange and Seminole County.

• The Measurement: An officer pulls you over. He decides to “measure” your sobriety. Because he is looking for a crime (the observer effect), he interprets your nervousness as “impairment.”
• The Collapse: Just like the wave collapses into a particle when measured, your normal behavior collapses into “clues of impairment” on a police report.
• The Defense: Our job is to look past the label (the police report) and look at the “bird” (the body cam video).

There is often no physical reason for the officer’s conclusion. As Feynman might say, “How can it be like that?” The answer is usually that the officer’s expectation created the reality he wanted to see.

John’s Takeaways

If you are reading a police report about yourself and thinking, “This isn’t what happened,” you are experiencing the difference between a label and reality. Here is what you need to know:

• Labels Are Not Evidence: Just because an officer writes “Aggressive” or “Intoxicated” doesn’t make it a fact. That is just the name of the bird; it tells us nothing about the actual bird.
• Demand the “Raw Data”: We don’t trust the report (the measurement). We want the body cam, the bystander video, and the GPS data. We want to see the wave, not just the particle the officer chose to record.
• Context Matters: Officers often strip away context to make a charge stick. We put the context back in.
• Don’t Plea to a Label: Never accept a plea deal just because the State gave your actions a scary-sounding legal name.

Let’s Look at the Evidence Together

Science is in the business of labeling phenomena, and so are prosecutors. But labeling doesn’t always aid understanding. Rest assured, all this labeling makes some prosecutors feel intellectually superior without actually proving their case.

If you’ve been arrested in Orlando, Osceola, Lake, Brevard, or Volusia County, let’s stop looking at the labels and start looking at the evidence. Give me a call at (407) 423-1117, or contact us online for a free consultation.

About John Guidry II

John Guidry II is a seasoned criminal defense attorney and founder of the Law Firm of John P. Guidry II, P.A., located in downtown Orlando next to the Orange County Courthouse, where he has practiced for over 30 years. With more than three decades of experience defending clients throughout Central Florida since 1993, Guidry has successfully defended thousands of cases in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Lake, and Volusia counties. He has built a reputation for his strategic approach to criminal defense, focusing on pretrial motions and case dismissals rather than jury trials.

Guidry earned both his Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration from St. Louis University in 1993. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of Florida state criminal charges, with a particular emphasis on achieving favorable outcomes through thorough pretrial preparation and motion practice.

Beyond the courtroom, Guidry is a prolific legal educator who has authored over 400 articles on criminal defense topics. He shares his legal expertise through his popular YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, where he has built a substantial following of people eager to learn about the law. His educational content breaks down complex legal concepts into accessible information for the general public.

When not practicing law, Guidry enjoys tennis and pickleball, and loves to travel. Drawing from his background as a former recording studio owner and music video producer in the Orlando area, he brings a creative perspective to his legal practice and continues to apply his passion for video production to his educational content.