US court quashes road rage killer's sentence over AI video of victim

An Arizona appeals court has ruled that Gabriel Paul Horcasitas, convicted of shooting and killing 37-year-old Christopher Pelkey during a road rage confrontation at a red light in 2021, must be resentenced. The reason: an AI-generated video presenting a digital recreation of the victim was shown during the sentencing proceedings.

A jury had found Horcasitas, now 55, guilty, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His legal team appealed, arguing the trial judge should not have permitted the AI video, created by Pelkey's family, to be shown ahead of last year's sentencing hearing.

The Arizona Court of Appeals agreed, ruling on Wednesday that the video had "crossed that line." The court explained that rather than documenting an actual event or recorded moment, the video presented a depiction of the victim and his thoughts, constructed from the imaginings of the victim's sister.

Horcasitas's lawyer, Kristen Reller, who filed the appeal, declined to comment on the ruling. Jessica Gattuso, an attorney representing the victims in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.

Pelkey's sister, Stacey Wales, told the BBC last year that the family had used voice recordings, videos and photographs to recreate her brother digitally. The AI version of Pelkey, shown in court in 2025, expressed forgiveness toward Horcasitas and said that in different circumstances they might have been friends, adding that he believed in forgiveness and in a forgiving God.

At the time of sentencing, the judge who oversaw the case, Todd Lang, had praised the use of the AI video, saying he had heard genuine forgiveness in it despite the family's justified anger.