NM Supreme Court: $5k fine after ChatGPT invented witnesses

On 11 Sep 2026 Ars Technica and The Verge reported that the New Mexico Supreme Court held defense lawyer Stephen Aarons in direct contempt and fined him $5,000 for filing an August 2025 murder-appeal brief built with ChatGPT (o3) that quoted wholly fabricated witnesses and fake police testimony, plus misstated precedents. Aarons admitted he fed a Rev.com transcript and case files into ChatGPT and filed without verifying; he told the court he “didn’t know that AI could hallucinate facts.” Justice Bacon: AI-hallucination lawyer stories are “above-the-fold every single day.” He’s barred from that court pending disciplinary proceedings; the public defender must appoint new counsel and prior briefs were struck.