ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses

The New Mexico Supreme Court has held a lawyer in direct contempt after he filed an AI-written brief packed with made-up facts, including testimony from witnesses that did not exist. The court said the filing contained “false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses,” along with fake police testimony and other errors.

The lawyer, Stephen Aarons, admitted to the court that he never checked the facts or the legal citations in the brief before signing and filing it. He also said he did not tell his client that he had skipped that verification step, or that the brief included multiple factual and legal misstatements.

That matters because this wasn’t a casual slip. Aarons has practiced criminal defense in New Mexico for more than 40 years, and he was hired by members of a defendant’s family to pursue an appeal after a murder conviction. Instead, the state’s highest court said he showed “a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client.”

The court also sent the matter to a disciplinary board for more proceedings. His former client, Oscar Renee Sandoval, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2025 after being convicted of killing Shiereen Al-Jibury, who was his partner and the mother of his children.