What Attorneys Need to Know about ShotSpotter

Live webinar presented by Mitha Nandagopalan, JD
December 7, 2023, 12:30pm
90 min of CLE credit anticipated

Police in dozens of cities are increasingly relying on acoustic gunshot detection technology such as ShotSpotter, which purports to use microphones in multiple locations along with artificial intelligence to identify and locate gunfire. The technology, however, presents serious evidentiary and constitutional concerns. This training will review the claims of SoundThinking (ShotSpotter’s parent company) about the technology, what the independent evidence does and doesn’t show, and what legal issues to look for. We will then review recent case law and the range of legal issues surrounding ShotSpotter’s use in investigations and at trial — including 4th Amendment analyses, reliability issues, Brady problems, and hearsay and confrontation — and offer concrete strategies for litigation at the discovery stage, during pretrial motions, and in trial.  

Registration:
This program is part of the 2023 IDS Forensic Science Education Series. The webinars will be presented monthly and are free to attend. Attorneys who want CLE credit for attending will be billed $3.50 per credit hour by the State Bar. Use this link to register for all webinars in the series and attend any that are of interest.

Presenter:
Mitha Nandagopalan joined the Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation Department as a staff attorney in February 2023 to work on issues involving emerging surveillance technologies and the risks they pose for generating wrongful convictions, especially in communities of color targeted for heightened surveillance. Before joining the Innocence Project, Mitha was an assistant public defender in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to that, they clerked for Justice Susan Carney on the Alaska Supreme Court in Fairbanks. They hold a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where their clinical work focused on representing indigent tenants facing eviction and housing discrimination. Prior to law school, they taught 5th grade in Brooklyn, where witnessing the over-policing of their students and students’ families propelled them to a career in indigent defense.