In Arizona, a man convicted of manslaughter will be resentenced after an appellate court found that an AI-generated video of his victim, used during a victim impact statement, carried "undue emotional weight" and prejudiced the judge. The court upheld the conviction but ruled that the sentencing judge must reconsider the length of the prison term.
The video was created by the victim's sister, Stacey Wales, who wrote a script and used an AI-generated likeness of her brother Christopher Pelkey to deliver it. In the video, the AI avatar forgives the killer and says they could have been friends. The original judge said he "loved the video" and handed down the maximum sentence. The appeals court cited a 2007 case to argue that the video crossed a line because it did not reflect actual events.
Wales defended the video, saying it was a way to convey her brother's life and that victims' families should have every opportunity to make their points. She noted that the words were hers, not AI-generated, and that the video was not shown to a jury. She also compared AI to photography's slow acceptance in courtrooms. She said she is prepared to read the same script herself at the resentencing.