New Mexico court sanctions lawyer over fabricated AI evidence
Stephen Aarons was fined US$5,000 and held in contempt after the state’s Supreme Court found fabricated testimony and witnesses in a murder appeal filing.
The New Mexico Supreme Court has fined defence lawyer Stephen Aarons US$5,000 and held him in contempt after finding that a filing in a murder appeal contained fabricated police testimony and witnesses allegedly generated by ChatGPT.
The court said Aarons failed to verify the accuracy of the document and would refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation. It also said the filing included fictional statements that the shooter was wearing dark trousers and a white shirt.
Aarons told Reuters he had used ChatGPT to summarise trial proceedings and other case materials, and did not understand the extent to which the programme could generate false facts. He said he considered the incident an honest mistake.
The filing was submitted in the appeal of Oscar Renee Sandoval, who pleaded not guilty before being convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. The appeal remains pending and was assigned to New Mexico public defender Kim Chavez Cook on 2 September.
Al Jazeera reported that the sanction is part of a growing number of cases in which US judges have disciplined lawyers for filing AI-generated documents without adequate verification. The disciplinary investigation and Sandoval’s appeal remain unresolved.
