In an unprecedented moment in an Arizona courtroom, the voice and likeness of a man killed in a 2021 road rage incident were brought back to life through artificial intelligence, allowing the victim to posthumously address his killer.
Chris Pelkey, a 37-year-old Army combat veteran and devout Christian, was fatally shot by Gabriel Horcasitas at a red light in Chandler in March 2021.
According to police, the incident unfolded after Pelkey exited his vehicle and approached Horcasitas’s car, prompting Horcasitas to open fire.
This week—three and a half years later—Pelkey’s presence returned to the courtroom in a video generated by AI, delivering what is believed to be the first victim impact statement of its kind.
“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” said the AI-generated video of Pelkey, who appeared wearing a grey baseball cap and his distinctive red-and-brown beard. “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 groundbreaking presentation was made possible by Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales, and her husband, who compiled more than 40 impact statements from friends and family before deciding to recreate what they believed Chris would have said.
“All I kept coming back to was, what would Chris say?” Wales told local news outlet ABC-15.
Using archived audio and video footage of Pelkey, the couple trained an AI model to simulate his voice and facial expressions.
Wales described the emotionally complex process as a “Frankenstein of love” in an interview with Fox 10.
The use of AI in court drew praise from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang, who sentenced Horcasitas to ten and a half years in prison on manslaughter charges.
“I loved that AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness,” Lang said. “I feel that that was genuine.”
Chris’s brother, John Pelkey, also endorsed the digital tribute, describing it as a moment of healing.
“That was the man I knew,” he said. “Waves of healing” came over him as he watched the video, he added, noting that he believes Chris would have chosen to forgive his killer.
As artificial intelligence begins to take root in the American justice system, the U.S. Judicial Conference’s advisory committee has announced that it will soon seek public comment on how to regulate AI-generated content as evidence in courtrooms.
