New Mexico Supreme Court fines lawyer $5,000 over ChatGPT-fabricated witnesses in murder appeal

The New Mexico Supreme Court held criminal defense lawyer Stephen Aarons in direct contempt and fined him $5,000 for filing a murder-appeal brief, generated with ChatGPT (OpenAI o3), that cited testimony from fabricated witnesses and misrepresented legal…

The New Mexico Supreme Court held criminal defense lawyer Stephen Aarons in direct contempt for filing a murder-appeal brief on behalf of client Oscar Renee Sandoval that contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses — including "Officer Michelle Amarillo" and "Officer Sanchez" — plus false claims about the shooter's clothing and appearance and misrepresented legal authority. Aarons admitted feeding a computer-generated trial transcript into ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI's o3 model, and filing the output without verifying factual claims or telling his client, reportedly believing it would produce a bulletproof summary of the trial. The court fined him $5,000, struck all briefs, ordered new counsel for Sandoval, referred him to a disciplinary board, and barred him from appearing before the court pending those proceedings. Justice C. Shannon Bacon questioned how Aarons could be unaware of AI hallucination risks given how frequently such cases appear in the news, and the opinion cited eight or nine code of conduct violations along with a lack of remorse. The sanction adds to a multi-year pattern of courts punishing lawyers over AI-generated legal citations, including fines against two law firms and Mike Lindell's legal team.

• Stephen Aarons, a criminal defense lawyer, was held in direct contempt by the New Mexico Supreme Court
• Sanctions: $5,000 fine, referral to a disciplinary board, and barred from appearing before the court pending proceedings
• The conduct involved an appeal brief in the murder conviction case of client Oscar Renee Sandoval
• The brief cited fabricated witnesses, including Officer Michelle Amarillo and Officer Sanchez, and contained false testimony about the shooter's clothing and appearance
• Legal authority was also misrepresented in the brief
• Aarons admitted feeding a computer-generated trial transcript into ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI's o3 model, and filing the output without verifying it or telling his client
• The court struck all briefs and ordered new counsel for Sandoval
• Justice C. Shannon Bacon questioned how Aarons could be unaware of AI hallucination risks