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Reincarnated by A.I., Arizona Man Forgives His Killer at Sentencing
The letters came streaming in: from battalion brothers who had served alongside Christopher Pelkey in Iraq and Afghanistan, fellow missionaries and even a prom date.
A niece and nephew addressed the court.
Still, the voice that mattered most to Mr. Pelkey’s older sister, Stacey Wales, would most likely never be heard when it was time for an Arizona judge to sentence the man who killed her brother during a 2021 road rage episode — the victim’s.
Ms. Wales, 47, had a thought. What if her brother, who was 37 and had done three combat tours of duty in the U.S. Army, could speak for himself at the sentencing? And what would he tell Gabriel Horcasitas, 54, the man convicted of manslaughter in his case?
The answer came on May 1, when Ms. Wales clicked the play button on a laptop in a courtroom in Maricopa County, Ariz.
A likeness of her brother appeared on an 80-inch television screen, the same one that had previously displayed autopsy photos of Mr. Pelkey and security camera footage of his being fatally shot at an intersection in Chandler, Ariz. It was created with artificial intelligence.
“It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the avatar of Mr. Pelkey said. “In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God, who forgives. I always have and I still do.”
While the use of A.I. has spread through society, from the written word to memes and deepfakes, its use during the sentencing of Mr. Horcacitas, who got the maximum 10 and a half years in prison, appeared to be uncharted.
It reverberated far beyond the courtroom, drawing headlines, questions and debate. Critics argued that the introduction of A.I. in legal proceedings could open the door to manipulation and deception, compounding the already emotional process of giving victim impact statements.
One thing was certain: The nearly four-minute video made a favorable impression on the judge, Todd Lang, of the Maricopa County Superior Court, who complimented its inclusion moments before sentencing Mr. Horcasitas.
“I loved that A.I.,” Judge Lang said, describing the video’s message as genuine. “Thank you for that. And as angry as you are, and justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness. And I know Mr. Horcasitas appreciated it, but so did I.”
Much in the same way that social media apps have been placing labels on A.I.-generated content, the video opened with a disclaimer.
“Hello, just to be clear, for everyone seeing this, I am a version of Chris Pelkey recreated through A.I. that uses my picture and my voice profile,” it said. “I was able to be digitally regenerated to share with you today.”
While many states provide an opportunity for victims and their families to address the court during sentencings, some are more restrictive in the use of video presentations and photographs, according to legal experts.
But victims have broader latitude in Arizona. Ms. Wales said in an interview on Wednesday that she had discovered that fact as she bounced the idea of using A.I. off a victims’ rights lawyer who represented Mr. Pelkey’s family.
“She says, ‘I don’t think that’s ever been done before,’” Ms. Wales said.
Ms. Wales had been preparing her victim’s impact statement for two years, she said, but it was missing a critical element.
“I kept hearing what Chris would say,” she said.
Ms. Wales said that she then enlisted the help of her husband and their longtime business partner, who had used A.I. to help corporate clients with presentations, including one featuring a likeness of a company’s chief executive who had died years ago.
They took Mr. Pelkey’s voice from a YouTube video that they had found of him speaking after completing treatment for PTSD at a facility for veterans, she said. For his face and torso, they used a poster of Mr. Pelkey from a funeral service, digitally trimming his thick beard, removing his glasses and editing out a logo from his cap, she said.
Ms. Wales said that she had written the script that was read by the A.I. likeness of her brother.
“I know that A.I. can be used nefariously, and it’s uncomfortable for some,” Ms. Wales said. “But this was just another tool to use to tell Chris’s story.”
Vanessa Ceja-Cervantes, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County attorney, said in an email that the office was not aware of A.I. being used before to give a victim’s impact statement.
Jason D. Lamm, a defense lawyer for Mr. Horcasitas, said in an interview that it would have been difficult to block the video from being shown.
“Victims generally have extremely broad latitude to make their voices heard at sentencing, and the rules of evidence don’t apply at sentencing,” Mr. Lamm said. “However this may be a situation where they just took it too far, and an appellate court may well determine that the court’s reliance on the A.I. video could constitute reversible error and require a resentencing.”
Ms. Wales emphasized that the video of her brother’s likeness was used during only the sentencing phase of the case, not in either of Mr. Horcasitas’s two trials. Both ended with convictions. He was granted a second trial because prosecutors did not disclose certain evidence during the first, according to court records.
On Nov. 13, 2021, Mr. Pelkey was stopped at a red light in Chandler when Mr. Horcasitas pulled up behind him and honked at him, prompting Mr. Pelkey to exit his vehicle and approach Mr. Horcasitas’s Volkswagen and gesture with his arms as if to say “what the heck,” according to a probable cause statement. Mr. Horcasitas then fired a gun at him, hitting Mr. Pelkey at least once in the chest.
Cynthia Godsoe, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and a former public defender who helps write best practices for lawyers for the American Bar Association, said in an interview on Thursday that she was troubled by the allowance of A.I. at the sentencing.
“It’s clearly going to inflame emotions more than pictures,” Ms. Godsoe said. “I think courts have to be really careful. Things can be altered. We know that. It’s such a slippery slope.”
In the U.S. federal courts, a rule-making committee is currently considering evidentiary standards for A.I. materials when parties in cases agree that it is artificially generated, said Maura R. Grossman, a lawyer from Buffalo who is on the American Bar Association’s A.I. task force.
Ms. Grossman, a professor at the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, who also teaches at the Osgoode Hall Law School, both in Canada, did not object to the use of A.I. in the Arizona sentencing.
“There’s no jury that can be unduly influenced,” Professor Grossman said. “I didn’t find it ethically or legally troubling.”
Then there was the curious case of the plaintiff in a recent New York State legal appeal who made headlines when he tried to use an A.I. avatar to make his argument.
“The appellate court shut him down,” Ms. Grossman said.
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Michael Wolff
12/16/2015 4:26:32 PM
jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]
Re: Heads up
Importance: High
I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 11:52 PM, jeffrey E.
if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 8:00 PM, Michael Wolff
wrote:
I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you–either on air or in scrum afterwards.
please note
The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute inside information, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the property of
JEE
Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by e-mail to jeevacation@gmail.com, and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. copyright -all rights reserved
The aurora borealis lit up the night sky over Monroe, Wis., on Tuesday night. The northern lights were visible as far south as Alabama and Florida
Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Geomagnetic storms brought the northern lights to much of the U.S. on Tuesday night, painting the sky in vibrant hues of green and pink.
The Aurora Borealis was spotted in a large swath of states, including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington state. Northern lights were visible as far south as parts of Florida and Alabama, a relatively rare occurrence that highlights the severity of this week’s storms.
“Well, we had activity tonight — a lot of geomagnetic storm activity,” Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a video on X.
The aurora borealis glows above rural Monroe County, Wis., as a strong geomagnetic storm from recent solar activity pushes the northern lights unusually far south on Wednesday.
Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images
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Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images
A geomagnetic storm happens when charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. In addition to creating dazzling displays of color, such storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from satellites and GPS to radio communications and the power grid.
Tuesday’s activity was the result of a phenomenon called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive blasts of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere that grow in size as they hurtle towards Earth.
Two CMEs arrived on Earth on Tuesday, Dahl said.
The aurora borealis lights up the night sky east of Denver on Tuesday.
Trevor Hughes/USA TODAY Network via Reuters
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Trevor Hughes/USA TODAY Network via Reuters
The resulting storm reached G4 levels, the second-highest on NOAA’s five-step scale, and created a magnetic field that was “not only eight times stronger than what’s normal but … also favorable for continued activity,” Dahl said in a later update.
Forecasters are awaiting a third and final CME, which they expect will arrive on Earth at midday Wednesday and be even stronger than the previous two.
“That was the most energetic and strongest of this activity out there in space,” Dahl said. “It was traveling significantly faster than these other two, and we think that’s going to pack even a stronger punch than what we’ve already experienced.”
The Space Weather Prediction Center says the aurora may become visible “over much of the northern half of the country, and maybe as far south as Alabama to northern California.”
The Met Office, the U.K.’s national weather service, says the aurora may also be visible over parts of Britain on Wednesday night, though it is likely to be obscured by cloud cover — as was the case in Michigan on Tuesday.
Luckily, Americans in northern states won’t have to wait long for another chance to get a glimpse.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center “aurora viewline forecast” shows the swath of the northern U.S. in which the northern lights might be visible on Wednesday.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center
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NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center
How to see (and photograph!) the northern lights
A dark setting is essential to see the aurora, so it’s important to get away from light pollution if you want a good glimpse of the northern lights. It’ll be easiest to see between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, according to NOAA.
A person watches the northern lights over Hulah Lake in northern Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Andy Dossett/USA TODAY Network via Reuters
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Andy Dossett/USA TODAY Network via Reuters
It is difficult to predict the exact timing and location of the northern lights, but you can sign up for different services that alert you when an aurora may be visible in your area. For example, a citizen science platform called Aurorasaurus allows users to report when and where they see an aurora, and gives estimates on how visible an aurora is in a given area.
Another option is an app called My Aurora Forecast & Alerts, available for download on both iOS and Android devices. This is a location-based app that gives viewing probability and forecasts.
Smartphone cameras are better at capturing the full array of an aurora than our naked eye, so be sure to go out with your phone to view a fuller spectrum of colors. If your phone camera has a night mode option, it’s best to switch it on when photographing the northern lights. You can also switch your phone camera to manual mode and adjust the exposure settings to get the perfect picture.
The aurora brightens the sky over Putnam Lake in Patterson, N.Y., on Tuesday.
Frank Becerra Jr./USA TODAY Network via Reuters
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Frank Becerra Jr./USA TODAY Network via Reuters
Why we are seeing more northern lights
Auroras have been happening more frequently in the United States for a while, and will continue to do so for several months. This influx of shimmering colors comes because the sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year cycle and, therefore, its solar maximum. The solar maximum causes solar eruptions, and this increase of activity brings ions, or electrically charged particles, closer to Earth. This stream of particles is known as the solar wind.
As solar winds get closer to Earth, the charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. When they collide, light is emitted. The light emits at various wavelengths, creating a colorful display throughout the night sky.
When the sun is at its solar maximum, the number of solar eruptions increases, which is why there are more auroras in the sky. Usually, this activity only takes place near the Arctic Circle, but since solar activity is strong right now, viewing areas have expanded to other regions, like the Midwest.
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Newsom claims Trump is ‘handing the future to China’ at Brazilian climate confab that WH skipped
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the most prominent American official to attend the COP30 global climate conference in Belém, Brazil, this week — using the platform to criticize the absent Trump administration.
The White House mocked the trip, noting California’s continued rank among the highest in U.S. energy costs.
Newsom’s office put out a summary of his visit to the conference, saying it shows California is “leading by example” and proving that “climate action and economic growth go hand in hand.”
“As Donald Trump abandons American climate leadership, California continues and accelerates its climate action, urging global investors to embrace the technologies and infrastructure driving the clean energy future,” his office said in the release.
NEWSOM SET TO RALLY TEXAS DEMS WITH VICTORY LAP DAYS AFTER PROP 50 PASSES: ‘CALIFORNIA STEPPED UP’
Gov. Gavin Newsom said California has proved it can balance climate and environmental stewardship with economic growth. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, Newsom was scheduled to deliver remarks in his role as co-chair of America Is All In, which describes itself as a broad coalition of non-federal actors in the U.S. committed to ambitious climate action. Later, he was scheduled to attend a state-governor’s coalition called U.S. Climate Alliance, and then travel into the Amazon rainforest to meet with “community stewards.”
“While Donald Trump is handing the future to China, California is proving that climate action, business growth, supporting workers, and good-paying jobs go hand in hand,” Newsom said.
“We’re not turning backwards to the failed policies of the past — California is fighting for a clean-energy future, even as President Trump bends the knee to his Gulf-State patrons and takes a nap as the world burns.”
NEWSOM SAYS TRUMP HAS ‘RELENTLESS, UNHINGED’ OBSESSION WITH CALIFORNIA DURING STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed that nine out of 10 days this year, California operated on 100% non-fossil-fuel energy for at least part of the day. (AP Photo)
Newsom made the case during remarks at the coinciding Milken Institute Global Investors Symposium in Sao Paulo that California has proved it can balance climate and environmental stewardship with economic growth.
“We’re running the fourth-largest economy in the world [on] 67%; two-thirds clean energy,” he said.
Newsom claimed that nine out of 10 days this year, California operated on 100% non-fossil-fuel energy for at least part of the day:
TRUMP OFFICIALS URGED TO BOYCOTT UN CLIMATE SUMMIT AS TRUMP SEETHES CLIMATE CHANGE IS A ‘CON JOB’
“I don’t know if there’s another jurisdiction in the world that can lay claim to that.”
“We are proving the paradigm: The genius of ‘and,’ not the tyranny of ‘or’,” he said in remarks to Milken CEO Rich Ditizio.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers cited California’s consumer energy costs, and claimed that Newsom would not be attending such a summit if he was sincere about the issue as thousands of acres reportedly had to be cleared for a “special purpose highway” into the rainforest.
NEWSOM WARNS AMERICANS ‘YOU WILL LOSE YOUR COUNTRY’ UNDER TRUMP AT CALIFORNIA SUMMIT
Belem officials denied the highway, Avenida Liberdade, was built expressly for the summit, according to reports.
“Governor Newscum (sic) flew all the way to Brazil to tout the Green New Scam, while the people of California are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country: Embarrassing,” Rogers said.
“It’s time for Newscum and other countries to drop the climate façade. President Trump will not allow the best interest of the American people to be jeopardized by the Green Energy Scam. These Green Dreams are killing other countries, but will not kill ours thanks to President Trump’s commonsense energy agenda,” she added.
NEWSOM UNVEILING CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING EFFORT TO COUNTER TRUMP-BACKED PUSH IN TEXAS
At the conference, former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee claimed to the COP30 conference that the U.S. has not pulled out of the Paris climate accords.
“One part of the United States has, and that’s the federal government,” he told Germany’s Deutsche Welle.
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At a business conference in Greece this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright commented on the Trump administration’s absence, calling the confab “essentially a hoax.”
“It’s not an honest organization looking to better human lives,” Wright said, adding that he may drop in on the 2026 conference to deliver some “common sense.”
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