Several lawyers dealing with cases in Oakland, Calif. say that faulty technology is causing many people to be unjustly arrested and wrongfully registered as sexual offenders.
Both prosecutors and public defenders at the Alameda County Superior Court say that an upgrade to new courtroom management software in 2016 led to a number of discrepancies in convictions and sentencing, according to a report by Ars Technica.
“I’ve been with our office for 20 years as a public defender, four years as the public defender, [and] I have never seen or encountered these type of mistakes related to a data system, ever, ever,” public defender Brendon Woods told the courtroom, adding that his clients haven’t been given a fair trial, according to Ars Technica.
Court computer systems are important because they log a lot of critical information pertaining to legal proceedings, like a judge’s official ruling, or the status of a warrant. The Alameda County Superior Court’s system uses software — known as Odyssey Court Manager — which is developed by Tyler Technologies and allegedly registers frequent glitches.
The public defender’s office has filed roughly 2,000 motions to retroactively settle inconsistencies and to make sure that the technology is fixed or replaced.
Odyssey Court Manager is used in 25 of California’s 58 county courts, as well as counties across the country like Miami-Dade County, Fla. and Shelby County, Tenn., according to Ars Technica.
Three defendants filed a class action lawsuit against Shelby County officials and Tyler Technologies, alleging that they and hundreds of others were unlawfully detained and “deprived of their constitutional rights” due to the defective computer system.
A spokesman for Tyler Technologies told Ars Technica that the same technology was being successfully used across the country, and that they will try to settle the situation.
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