I FORGIVE YOU

Dead Victim Brought Back by AI to Forgive His Killer in Court

The family of an Arizona man killed in 2021 commissioned his AI likeness to give a victim impact statement at his killer’s sentencing.

When Gabriel Horcasitas was convicted of manslaughter for killing Army veteran Christopher Pelkey, an unexpected guest appeared at his sentencing: Pelkey himself. Or rather, an AI-generated video of Pelkey, commissioned by his family, to give a victim impact statement in what may be the first of its kind in an American court. If nothing else, it was a break from precedent, considering a New York appeals court recently shut down a plaintiff who tried to use an AI avatar during arguments. In 2021, Horcasitas shot Pelkey during a road rage incident in Chandler, Arizona. Four years later, Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales, asked her husband, who creates AI presentations for corporate events and has worked with deceased clients before, to generate an AI likeness of her brother to speak at the sentencing. On May 1, the AI likeness appeared in a four-minute video on the courtroom’s 80-inch TV, telling Horcasitas that both Pelkey and God forgive him for the 2021 killing. Afterward, Judge Todd Lang told the court he appreciated the gesture and believed Horcasitas did, too.