AI Errors in Murder Case Lead to Discipline for Georgia Prosecutor Over Fake Citations

AI errors in US murder case lead to discipline for Georgia prosecutor

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday disciplined a prosecutor in the U.S. state, finding her misuse of artificial intelligence tools led to fake and misleading case citations appearing in a murder case ruling. The state's high court barred Deborah Leslie, a Clayton County assistant district attorney, from appearing before the justices for six months and ordered her to complete additional legal education on ethics, brief writing and proper AI use. The court found, opens new tab that "numerous fictitious or misattributed case citations" appeared in a lower court's 2025 order denying a murder defendant's bid for a new trial. "Citing cases that do not exist or do not support the proposition for which they are cited is a violation of this Court's rules and ⁠falls far beneath the conduct we expect from Georgia lawyers," Justice Benjamin Land wrote. SOME ATTORNEYS FAIL TO VET AI RESULTS State and federal courts across the country have disciplined attorneys for using generative AI tools for legal research and drafting without vetting the results. The Georgia case is among the rarer instances involving a prosecutor's use of AI, and stands out because the lawyers' AI errors were repeated in a court opinion. Leslie and the Clayton County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leslie apologized in an earlier court filing for failing to independently verify the AI-generated citations. The sanction came in the appeal of Hannah Payne, who was sentenced to life in prison ⁠plus 13 years for the murder and false imprisonment of Kenneth Herring. Leslie's AI-generated false citations appeared in a proposed order she prepared, urging the trial judge to deny a request for a new trial. The judge adopted much of the proposed order, including fabricated citations, in denying Payne's request, the Georgia Supreme Court said. The state justices on Tuesday urged trial judges to ⁠review proposed orders "with the understanding that artificial intelligence software, with all of its potential risks and benefits, may have been used." The justices vacated the earlier ruling and sent the case back to the trial judge, directing that a new order be issued without ⁠fictitious citations. "Hannah Payne has strong issues for appeal. It is a shame that the State's misconduct is now delaying her opportunity to have those issues be decided," her lawyer, Andrew Fleischman, said in a statement. Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Rod Nickel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Hannah Payne gets chance for retrial because of AI citations, Georgia Supreme Court rules

Dan Raby, the senior digital producer for CBS News Atlanta, has been covering everything happening around Georgia for more than a decade. A Georgia woman sentenced to life in prison will have the chance for a new trial after the state Supreme Court sanctioned the prosecutor connected with her previous case. In May 2019, authorities say Hannah Payne witnessed a crash between a car driven by 62-year-old Kenneth Herring and another vehicle. When Herring tried to leave the scene, Payne followed him and blocked his path with her car. An altercation between the two ended with Payne shooting Herring in the stomach, killing him, police said. Payne had called 911 during the incident and was told by dispatchers not to follow or engage the hit-and-run driver. But she ignored those instructions. In 2023, a Clayton County jury found Payne guilty of felony murder, malice murder, and other charges. She was sentenced to life without parole plus 13 years. Following the sentencing, Payne and her attorney filed a motion for a new trial. It was then that Justice Benjamin A. Land said that Deborah Leslie, the assistant district attorney assigned to the case, "filed a brief that contained non-existent cases and cases that do not stand for the proposition asserted in the brief." Land writes that the trial court denied Payne's motion, citing the non-existent cases. The state's appellate brief filed by Leslie also appeared to cite cases that "do not stand for the proposition asserted." The opinion states that Leslie admitted to using artificial intelligence software to draft the briefs, acknowledging that the citations were not verified before they were submitted to the court. "While we have no rule against the responsible use of artificial intelligence software by attorneys, citing cases that do not exist or do not support the proposition for which they are cited is a violation of this Court's rules and falls far beneath the conduct we expect from Georgia lawyers," the justice wrote in his opinion. Because of the citations, the high court vacated the previous ruling denying Payne's motion, sending it back to the lower court for reassessment without any misattributions. As part of the ruling, the justices have suspended Leslie's privilege to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court for six months and set a condition that she complete an additional 12 hours of continuing legal education on ethics, brief writing, and use of artificial intelligence in the legal system.

AI Errors in US Murder Case Lead to Discipline for Georgia Prosecutor

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The Georgia Supreme Court ⁠on ⁠Tuesday disciplined a prosecutor in the ⁠U.S. state, finding her misuse of artificial intelligence tools led to fake and misleading case citations appearing in a murder case ruling. The state's high court barred Deborah Leslie, a Clayton County assistant district attorney, from appearing before the justices for six months and ordered her to complete additional legal education on ethics, brief ⁠writing and ⁠proper AI use. The court found that "numerous fictitious or misattributed case citations" appeared in a lower court's 2025 order denying a murder defendant's bid for a new trial. "Citing cases that do not exist or do not support the proposition for which they are cited is a violation of this Court's rules and falls far beneath the conduct we expect from Georgia lawyers," Justice Benjamin Land wrote. SOME ⁠ATTORNEYS FAIL ⁠TO VET AI RESULTS State ⁠and federal courts across the country have disciplined attorneys for using generative AI tools for legal research and drafting without vetting the results. The ⁠Georgia case is among the rarer instances involving a prosecutor's use of AI, and stands out because the lawyers' AI errors were repeated in a court opinion. Leslie and the Clayton County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leslie apologized in an earlier court filing for failing ⁠to independently verify the AI-generated citations. The sanction came in the appeal of Hannah Payne, who ⁠was sentenced to life in prison plus 13 years for the murder and false imprisonment of Kenneth Herring. Leslie's AI-generated false citations appeared in a proposed order she prepared, urging the trial judge to deny a request for a new trial. The judge adopted much of the proposed order, including fabricated citations, in denying Payne's request, the Georgia Supreme Court said. The state justices on Tuesday urged trial judges to review proposed orders "with the understanding that artificial intelligence software, with all of its potential risks and benefits, may have been used." The ⁠justices vacated the earlier ruling and sent the case back to the trial judge, directing that a new order be issued without fictitious citations. "Hannah Payne has strong issues for appeal. It is a shame that the State's misconduct is now delaying her opportunity to have those issues be decided," her lawyer, Andrew Fleischman, said in a statement. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Rod Nickel)

AI errors in US murder case lead to discipline for Georgia prosecutor

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday disciplined a prosecutor in the U.S. state, finding her misuse of artificial intelligence tools led to fake and misleading case citations appearing in a murder case ruling. The state's high court barred Deborah Leslie, a Clayton County assistant district attorney, from appearing before the justices for six months and ordered her to complete additional legal education on ethics, brief writing and proper AI use. The court found that "numerous fictitious or misattributed case citations" appeared in a lower court's 2025 order denying a murder defendant's bid for a new trial. "Citing cases that do not exist or do not support the proposition for which they are cited is a violation of this Court's rules and falls far beneath the conduct we expect from Georgia lawyers," Justice Benjamin Land wrote. SOME ATTORNEYS FAIL TO VET AI RESULTS State and federal courts across the country have disciplined attorneys for using generative AI tools for legal research and drafting without vetting the results. The Georgia case is among the rarer instances involving a prosecutor's use of AI, and stands out because the lawyers' AI errors were repeated in a court opinion. Leslie and the Clayton County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leslie apologized in an earlier court filing for failing to independently verify the AI-generated citations. The sanction came in the appeal of Hannah Payne, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 13 years for the murder and false imprisonment of Kenneth Herring. Leslie's AI-generated false citations appeared in a proposed order she prepared, urging the trial judge to deny a request for a new trial. The judge adopted much of the proposed order, including fabricated citations, in denying Payne's request, the Georgia Supreme Court said. The state justices on Tuesday urged trial judges to review proposed orders "with the understanding that artificial intelligence software, with all of its potential risks and benefits, may have been used." The justices vacated the earlier ruling and sent the case back to the trial judge, directing that a new order be issued without fictitious citations. "Hannah Payne has strong issues for appeal. It is a shame that the State's misconduct is now delaying her opportunity to have those issues be decided," her lawyer, Andrew Fleischman, said in a statement. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario, Rod Nickel)