US killer's sentence quashed because of AI video of victim shown in court

porridgeraisin 71 points 60 comments October 03, 2026
www.bbc.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (8 comments)

cf100clunk

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49931449

troupo

For now, courts are smart. Imagine what happens in 5-10 years

nchmy

> At the time of the sentencing, the judge who oversaw the case, Todd Lang, seemed to appreciate the use of AI. "I loved that AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness," Judge Lang said. "I feel that that was genuine." This judge should lose his job

dooglius

I'm confused. The video was shared by the victim's family, and it has him forgive the killer, and the judge believed it, and the killer's legal team complained? Isn't it in their favor?

metalman

while I have a near road rage reaction to the use of AI in courts, it suddenly occured to me that in a case like this the killer could be sentenced to 20 years with his victims AI representation his permanent 24/7/365 x 20 companion,programed to be nice but take the piss, you know,posture, maners, pick up your socks, 24/7/365 x 20, good mooorning, hi how are you?, I'm still dead hey!

Hobadee

Not sure why this was ever allowed; Regardless of what you make the AI say, this seems like a pretty open-and-shut case of hearsay to me. You are purporting to speak for someone else, but it's really the sisters words.

locusofself

It seems totally inappropriate to play an AI video in court, but it seems like a waste of resources to waste more court time on this. But also, how can you murder someone and get only 10 years in prison?

skissane

Here is the actual decision: https://coa1.azcourts.gov/Portals/1/OpinionFiles/Div1/2026/S...

Semantic search powered by Rivestack pgvector
8,416 stories · 78,695 chunks indexed