An Arizona appeals court has ordered Gabriel Paul Horcasitas to be resentenced after finding that an AI-generated video depicting the man he killed should not have been shown at his sentencing.
A jury found Horcasitas guilty of shooting Christopher Pelkey, 37, during a confrontation at a red light in 2021. He received a 10-year prison sentence. His lawyers appealed the trial judge’s decision to allow the video, which Pelkey’s family had made, to be played in court before sentencing in 2025.
The Arizona Court of Appeals found that the clip went beyond documenting Pelkey’s life: it portrayed thoughts attributed to him but imagined by his sister. Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales, said the family had drawn on recordings, video and photographs to create it. The ruling requires a new sentencing, not a new trial.
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