Lawyer fined $5K over AI-hallucinated witnesses in a murder case

New Mexico’s Supreme Court fined attorney Stephen Aarons $5,000 and found him in contempt for submitting an appeal brief that contained AI-generated, fabricated witnesses and false police testimony. The brief also included inaccurate details about the shooter’s clothing and appearance, violating the court’s requirement to verify factual claims and legal authority. The ruling highlights the court’s intolerance for unverified AI content in legal filings.