Arizona killer to be resentenced after court rejects AI victim statement

An Arizona man convicted of killing another driver during a road-rage confrontation must be resentenced after an appeals court ruled that an AI-generated victim statement was improperly shown in court. Gabriel Paul Horcasitas was convicted by a jury of shooting Christopher Pelkey, 37, at a red light in 2021. He received a 10-year prison sentence.

Pelkey’s family created an AI video using his voice recordings, photographs and other footage. The digital version of Pelkey appeared in court wearing a baseball cap and delivered a message expressing forgiveness towards Horcasitas. Horcasitas’s lawyers appealed, arguing that the video should not have been admitted at sentencing.

The Arizona Court of Appeals agreed, saying the clip did not document an event or reproduce a particular moment. Instead, it presented an imagined depiction of Pelkey and his thoughts created by his sister. The court said the video had crossed the line and ordered that Horcasitas be resentenced.

His lawyer declined to comment, while an attorney representing victims did not respond to a request for comment, according to the BBC. The trial judge, Todd Lang, had appeared to welcome the use of the technology during sentencing. He said he heard forgiveness in the message and described it as genuine.

The case raises questions about the use of artificial intelligence to recreate deceased people in legal proceedings. The supplied material does not say when the new sentencing hearing will take place or whether the original conviction is affected. Horcasitas was 55 when the appeals court ruling was reported.

The court’s decision concerns the sentencing procedure rather than the jury’s finding that he killed Pelkey.