Court Orders Man to Be Resentenced After Judge Was Affected by AI Video

A man convicted of manslaughter is due to be resentenced after a court of appeals found that the original judge was affected by an AI-generated video of the victim.

The case involves a road rage incident that happened in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2021. Christopher Pelkey was shot dead by Gabriel Paul Horcasitas.

At the resulting trial, Pelkey’s sister created an AI-generated video to deliver a first-of-its-kind victim statement in court.

Pelkey’s AI-generated likeness and voice spoke directly to the shooter, suggesting that had the two met under different circumstances, they could probably have been friends. It’s believed to be the first instance of an AI victim statement in a U.S. court.

The audio and video are not synced up and his mouth looks unnatural, but the AI-generated Pelkey offered further advice to people in general, urging them to make the most of their time.

The judge sentencing Horcasitas noted the “obvious forgiveness” in Pelkey’s AI-generated statement, which was written by Pelkey’s sister, before handing down a punishment that exceeded what prosecutors had asked for: 10 and a half years.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang said he “loved that AI” and called it “genuine” after the video played in court.

The Arizona Court of Appeals said that the AI video of Pelkey was a “fundamental error” and “not reliable,” saying that the synthetic media prejudiced the judge and led to a sentence that was “fundamentally unfair.”

“Indeed, rather than document 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,” the three-judge panel said, per AP.

Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales, says she is disappointed that the AI video was cited as the reason for the appellate court’s decision to toss the sentence, saying that she only wanted to humanize her brother for the judge.

“It feels unfair because there is a convicted murderer sitting in prison that has blankets and walls of protection around their rights. Where are the rights for the victim?” Wales says, per AP.