AI Brings Murder Victim Back to Court to Confront Their Killer

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Digital resurrection projects — using artificial intelligence to bring back the likeness of people who have died — have been trending for at least two years. As AI becomes more sophisticated, these resurrections continue to evolve. Recently, Stacey Wales utilized AI to generate a video of her late brother, Christopher Pelkey, to address the courtroom at the sentencing hearing for the man responsible for his death in a road rage incident in Chandler, Arizona. This marks a notable first in the use of AI in such a manner. “He doesn’t get a say. He doesn’t get a chance to speak,” Wales remarked about her brother. “We can’t let that happen. We have to give him a voice.”

Pelkey was a veteran who served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army and was deeply engaged in his local church, participating in multiple mission trips. His sister described him as someone who loved God and others, always willing to help those in need. He was 37 when he passed away. Wales created the AI video of her brother in just a few days after realizing that the most important voice was that of her late brother’s, after two years of crafting a victim impact statement.

“Every time I’d get in the shower or the car and my thoughts were quiet, I wrote down what I was feeling — frustrated, crying, emotions, yelling, anger, love, anything that I could think of,” she shared. “I’ve been writing it for two years, but I never had the idea to help Chris speak until a week and a half before this second trial.”

Wales also shared the AI video online, allowing others to experience the same message shown in the courtroom.

“Hello. Just to be clear for everyone seeing this, I’m a version of Chris Pelkey recreated through AI that uses my picture and my voice profile,” the AI avatar stated in the video. AI Pelkey expressed gratitude to everyone in his life, saying he and his shooter, Gabriel Paul Horcasitas, “could have been friends” in “another life.” “Well, I’m gonna go fishing now. Love you all. See you on the other side,” concluded AI Pelkey.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang commented, “I loved that AI. Thank you for that,” before sentencing Horcasitas to just over a decade in prison for manslaughter. This is not the first instance where AI has been pushed to create versions of people who have passed. The phenomenon has gained considerable attention, especially among TikTok users interested in true crime. Last year, youth-focused gun reform organizations also utilized audio “deepfakes” to “resurrect” gun violence victims in their advocacy.

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### Topics
– Artificial Intelligence