Arizona Court Overturns Conviction Over AI Video of Victim

An Arizona appeals court has overturned Gabriel Horcasitas' 10-year, 6-month prison sentence after finding that the judge was influenced by an AI-generated video of deceased Christopher Pelkey speaking and forgiving the defendant. The manslaughter conviction remains in effect, but the sentence must be re-determined.

Horcasitas was found guilty of Pelkey's death in a 2021 traffic collision. At the first sentencing in 2025, the deceased's sister, Stacey Wales, showed a video of her brother's virtual image. The text for the recording was written by her, and in it Pelki addresses Horcasitas, forgives him and says that in another life the two "could have been friends".

The judge who determined the sentence stated that he liked the video and found it authentic. According to the decision of the appeals court, he also pointed to the "obvious forgiveness" in the message, which he perceived as expressed "from the heart" of the victim. The court accepted that the video played a role in determining the sentence and that its presence made the procedure fundamentally unfair.

The sentence remains the only part overturned

The appeals court did not overturn the conviction for manslaughter. The decision only affects the prison term, which will be reviewed at a new hearing. A date has not yet been set.

In its appeal, Horcasitas' defense argued that the AI video should not have been allowed because it had an excessive emotional and psychological impact on the judge. The court also cited an older case from 2007, in which photos of children at their father's grave were determined to be close to the limit of permissible impact on the decision.

Sister to read the message in person

Stacey Wales said she would attend the new hearing and present the message in her own name, not through her brother's virtual image.

„If I have to stand there and read everything in person, which is perfectly legal, I'm ready to do that. Chris's position does not change. "It's just the way I present it that will change," Wales said.

She defended the use of the video, saying it was just part of the family's broader testimony. She said the judge's statement about the impact of the video was taken out of context in his nearly half-hour speech.

Sources: mezha.ua, 404media.co, apnews.com