New Mexico’s Supreme Court fined defense lawyer Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt after finding that a murder-appeal brief contained fabricated police testimony and wholly invented witnesses generated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The court said Aarons failed to verify the filing’s accuracy and showed a lack of remorse and concern for his client. It will refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation.
What the court found in the filing
The brief was submitted in an appeal of Oscar Renee Sandoval’s murder conviction. The New Mexico Supreme Court said the document contained false testimony from fabricated witnesses and ordered Aarons to explain how the material entered his primary brief. Read the context: Appeals court clears path for child-safety lawsuits against tech giants.
At an August 21 hearing, Aarons told the justices that he had given ChatGPT a computer-generated transcript and other case materials, expecting what he called a “bulletproof summary.” The court said lawyers must verify the accuracy of material produced by AI tools.
What happens to the murder appeal
Sandoval pleaded not guilty to the murder of the mother of his children before being convicted and sentenced to life in prison last year. His appeal is still pending, and Kim Chavez Cook has been assigned to handle it as a New Mexico public defender.
Aarons, a private attorney based in Santa Fe, said he was remorseful and hoped the disciplinary board would consider the incident an honest mistake. He described the episode as a lesson for professionals using technology that can produce unstable or inaccurate information.
What happens next
The New Mexico Supreme Court will refer Aarons to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation, while Sandoval’s appeal continues under new counsel.
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