A New Mexico lawyer has been fined $5,000, or approximately ₹4.4 lakh, and held in contempt of court after presenting fabricated witness accounts and nonexistent police statements generated by artificial intelligence during a murder trial. The New Mexico Supreme Court sanctioned defense attorney Stephen Aarons after an inspection of official case records revealed that multiple details submitted in his filings had no basis in the actual proceedings.
Fictional Accounts and Fabricated Records
The sanctions arose while Aarons was representing the accused in an active murder case. During the proceedings, he presented various witness statements and police accounts as legitimate evidence tied to the case. Upon examining the primary records, the court discovered that several cited details did not exist in the official documentation.
Among the submissions were formal statements attributed to witnesses who were entirely fictional. The filings also provided a specific description of the suspected shooter’s attire, asserting that the individual wore dark-colored pants and a white shirt. The court confirmed that no genuine police reports, witness testimonies, or physical evidence in the record supported this description.
Unchecked Reliance on ChatGPT
When ordered to account for the discrepancies, Aarons explained that he had used ChatGPT to generate a summary of the case. He had uploaded genuine trial transcripts and relevant legal records into the program, expecting the tool to deliver an accurate synthesis of the material.
Aarons told the court he did not know the artificial intelligence software could fabricate facts, create nonexistent witnesses, or invent official police records. Because he did not independently verify the generated output against the case file, the fictional narratives were incorporated directly into his formal court submissions.
Judicial Rebuke and Professional Responsibility
During an August 21 hearing, the bench strongly rejected the attorney’s justification. Justice C. Shannon Bacon challenged Aarons on why he failed to verify the AI-generated material before submitting it to the court, noting that issues surrounding inaccurate and fabricated legal submissions generated by automated tools have become widely known.
The Supreme Court ruled that attorneys maintain non-negotiable responsibility for the accuracy of all documents and facts submitted during legal proceedings. The court affirmed that automated text cannot serve as authentic legal record or evidence without human oversight, and the use of artificial intelligence does not excuse a practitioner from verifying every factual assertion. Holding Aarons in contempt, the court imposed the $5,000 fine as a reminder of the strict professional standards governing court submissions.
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