Court throws out killer’s sentence after judge said he ‘loved’ AI video of slain man

The family of a road rage victim in Arizona used his likeness to create a posthumous AI video played at his killer’s sentencing last year. Now, an appeals court has vacated the sentence, calling the decision to allow the video a “fundamental error.”

Last May, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang gave Gabriel Paul Horcasitas the maximum sentence for the fatal shooting of Christopher Pelkey, 37, on Nov. 13, 2021. Horcasitas, 54, was convicted of manslaughter and endangerment.