US lawyer cites fake witnesses in murder case, blames ChatGPT

State supreme court fined the attorney and held him in contempt for not verifying facts in a court filing.Published On 11 Sep 202611 Sep 2026A defense lawyer appealing his client’s murder conviction submitted a brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, New Mexico’s highest court has said.The New Mexico Supreme Court in the United States on Wednesday fined the lawyer, Stephen Aarons, and held him in contempt for failing to verify the accuracy of the court filing, which Aarons said he prepared with help from the artificial intelligence (AI) programme.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4The vanishing pharmacy of the Sundarbanslist 2 of 4Hull City’s Sorba Thomas unharmed as car overturned in crashlist 3 of 4Rising petrol costs drive sharp inflation increase in US in Augustlist 4 of 4Iran and Gulf states to discuss Strait of Hormuz in Oman on Mondayend of listThe filing “contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses”, the court said.The panel also said Aarons had “demonstrated a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client”. The justices fined Aarons $5,000 and said they will refer him to an attorney disciplina...