An Arizona road rage killer will be resentenced after an appeals court ruled that an AI-generated video message from his dead victim was improperly aired in court.
Gabriel Paul Horcasitas was found guilty by a jury of shooting and killing Christopher Pelkey, 37, in a confrontation at a red light in 2021, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
His legal team appealed, arguing that the trial judge should not have allowed an AI video, created by Pelkey's family, to be shown in court ahead of last year's sentencing.
The Arizona Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that Horcasitas, 55, must be resentenced because the AI clip “crossed that line.”
“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 court noted.
Horcasitas’ lawyer, Kristen Reller, who filed the appeal, declined to comment.
Stacey Wales, Pelkey’s sister, told the BBC last year that the family had used voice recordings, videos and pictures to recreate him for the AI video.
In court, the AI version of Pelkey said, “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.”
It continued, “I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives. I always have and I still do,” the AI version spoke, wearing a grey baseball cap.
At the time of the sentencing, Judge Todd Lang seemed to appreciate the use of AI. “I loved that AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness,” he said, adding, “I feel that that was genuine.”
