I'm somewhat surprised that courts haven't forbid this type of thing already. It's just so obviously antithetical to how courts are supposed to function.

Horcasitas' lawyer, Kristen Reller, who filed the appeal, declined to comment.

Jessica Gattuso, an attorney for victims in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.

You know it's getting spicy when both lawyers are dead silent about it.

I've been thinking about updating my will to say something about this. Like I strictly forbid my use of my image and voice in any AI videos after my death. Not cuz I think it'll stop anyone else but I just hope that it would stop my sister for making me say something horrid in like a memorial video or some shit. She would absolutely create a video about me saying I'm in a better place now or some shit like that.

Course I'm not leaving her anything anyway so I guess there'll be no repercussions if she violates it...

Yeesh. This is one of those stories where everybody sucks. The murderer sucks for the obvious reason, the judge and prosecution suck for allowing this, and even the victim's sister/family that made this abomination (and I acknowledge, may well have been grieving and had good intentions) but Y U C K.

If anybody turns my corpse into a puppet, even solely to advocate FOR ME, I will come back to haunt them and download viruses on all their computers forever

Imagine being the judge that authorized this, how stupid you must feel right now

All of you getting angry at the AI are justified; it's morbid and too much. But seems none of you actually read the context in which it was used. The video from the victim's family was about forgiveness, not attacking the murderer. If anything, I'd consider that it would make for a lighter sentence, which the defense should appreciate.

If he gets resentenced to a longer time I'm going to laugh.

How the heck do you cross examine that?

You know I hate the asshole is going to walk but that lawyer for the deceased really fucked up.

Pelkey's sister, Stacey Wales, told the BBC last year the family had used voice recordings, videos and pictures to recreate him for the AI video.

"To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances," said the AI version of Pelkey in court in 2025. "In another life, we probably could have been friends."

"I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives. I always have and I still do," the AI version of Pelkey - wearing a grey baseball cap - continued.

What a weird thing to do.

My dear void, that is some sick shit.

An Arizona road rage killer will be resentenced

So momentarily quashed

Haw sweet, man-made horrors beyond my comprehension!

Funny though that the message was a call for forgiveness from the sister. 10 years isn't that bad for second degree murder. Now he gets to redo victim impact statements with annoyed folks.

post it to !fuckcars@lemmy.world too