A murder victim speaks to his killer through AI in a first-of-its-kind sentence hearing.
Christopher Pelkey was killed in a road rage incident in Arizona on 13 November 2021. Both cars were stopped at a red light when Gabriel Paul Horcasitas shot Pelkey as he was getting out of his truck and walking over to Horcasitas' car.
Now, what's believed to be a first in US courts, Pelkey’s family have allowed AI technology to let him speak for himself in court. The AI-generated video of Pelkey addressed his killer directly in his victim impact statement.
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In the video, Pelkey told Horcasitas that it was a shame they had to meet 'that day in those circumstances' and that they could have been friends in another life.
"I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives," Pelkey's avatar told Gabriel Paul Horcasitas. "I always have and I still do."
The AI rendering of Pelkey also shared some heartfelt advice to the courtroom, urging people to make the most of each day and love each other, as life can be sadly cut short.
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While AI has been used in courts for things like administrative work, legal research and public case updates, this is the first time it’s been used to deliver a victim impact statement. Of course, AI uses like this can strike up a whole world of ethical issues. But in Arizona, it's legal.
The judge overseeing the case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang, told BBC News that he 'loved that AI.' He also noted the video mentioned Pelkey's family, who had expressed anger over his death and called for the maximum sentence for Horcasitas. Consequently, the 54-year-old was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Horcasitas' lawyer, Jason Lamm, filed a notice to appeal the sentence just hours after the hearing, claiming the judge may have improperly relied on the four-minute AI video when determining the punishment.
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The idea to use this technology came from Stacey Wales, Pelkey’s sister.
While struggling to write her own victim impact statement, she kept thinking about what her brother might say to the man who killed him. Wales described that they created an AI version of Pelkey by using a YouTube video of him speaking after completing PTSD treatment at a veterans’ facility. For his face and torso, they used a poster from his funeral service, digitally editing out his glasses, trimming his beard, and removing a logo from his cap.
"We approached this with ethics and morals because this is a powerful tool," she told the BBC. "Just like a hammer can be used to break a window or rip down a wall, it can also be used as a tool to build a house and that's how we used this technology."