Georgia Prosecutor Disciplined for AI-Generated Fake Legal Citations
Georgia Supreme Court disciplined prosecutor Deborah Leslie for submitting briefs containing non-existent and misattributed legal citations generated by AI software in a murder case. Leslie admitted she used AI to draft briefs without verifying the citations, leading to the court vacating a conviction denial and ordering a retrial for Hannah Payne.
What happened
Deborah Leslie, an assistant district attorney in Clayton County, Georgia, filed briefs in the Hannah Payne murder case that contained non-existent legal cases and cases that did not support the propositions asserted. Leslie acknowledged using artificial intelligence software to draft the briefs without verifying the citations before submission to the court.
Justice Benjamin A. Land noted that the trial court had denied Payne's motion for a new trial based partly on these non-existent cases cited by Leslie. The state's appellate brief also appeared to cite cases that did not stand for the propositions asserted.
Reported impact
Because of the false citations, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the previous ruling denying Payne's motion for a new trial and sent it back to the lower court for reassessment without the misattributed citations. Hannah Payne, who had been sentenced to life without parole plus 13 years following a 2023 conviction, will now have the opportunity for a new trial.
Index analysis
Justice Land wrote that while the court has no rule against the responsible use of AI software by attorneys, citing cases that do not exist or do not support the cited propositions violates the court's rules and falls beneath expected conduct standards for Georgia lawyers.
Governance controls
As part of the ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court suspended Leslie's privilege to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court for six months and required her to complete an additional 12 hours of continuing legal education on ethics, brief writing, and use of artificial intelligence in the legal system.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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