ChatGPT Fabricated Witness Testimony in New Mexico Murder Appeal, Lawyer Fined and Referred to Disciplinary Board

A defense attorney appealing a murder conviction submitted a brief to the New Mexico Supreme Court containing fabricated police testimony and witnesses invented by ChatGPT. The court found the filing included "fictional statements that the shooter was wearing dark pants and a white shirt" attributed to witnesses who did not exist. Attorney Stephen Aarons told the court he fed case materials into ChatGPT expecting "a bulletproof summary," and said he did not fully understand that AI could hallucinate facts.

The court fined Aarons $5,000, held him in contempt, and referred him to the state attorney disciplinary board. His client, Oscar Renee Sandoval, who is serving a life sentence for murder, has had his appeal reassigned to a public defender. The justices were not sympathetic to the learning-curve defense: Justice C. Shannon Bacon asked from the bench whether Aarons watched the news, listened to the radio, or read anything at all, given that AI hallucinations in legal filings have been "an above-the-fold story every single day."