Arizona's second-highest court has thrown out a Chandler man's prison term over what it says was a judge's improper embrace of courtroom AI. The Arizona Court of Appeals on Wednesday vacated the 10.5-year sentence given to Gabriel Horcasitas, convicted of manslaughter in the 2021 road-rage shooting of 34-year-old Christopher Pelkey, AZFamily reports. At a sentencing hearing last year, the judge watched an AI-generated video in which Pelkey appeared to speak from beyond the grave. He then praised the technology, saying he "loved that AI" and noting Pelkey's "obvious forgiveness." The judge sentenced Horcasitas to a year more than prosecutors had asked for.
Pelkey's family created the video using an old video and photo of Pelkey and a script written by his sister. "To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have been friends," the AI-generated Pelkey said. "I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives. I always have, and I still do." The appeals court ruled the video tainted the judge's decision and made the proceeding "fundamentally unfair." Horcasitas' conviction stands, but he must be resentenced.
"No Arizona case has addressed the admissibility of an AI-generated depiction of a victim offered as a victim impact statement," the court said, per 12 News. The court said that unlike photos of a police officer's grieving sons presented at the sentencing of the officer's killer, which the Arizona Supreme Court decided were allowable but "uncomfortably close" to the line, the AI-generated video crossed the line. The video "does not reflect actual events," the court said. "Indeed, rather than documenting an event or recording a particular moment, the AI video presents a depiction of the victim and his thoughts created from the imaginings of the victim's sister."
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