Here’s a pro-tip for lazy attorneys: If you never want to suffer such an excruciatingly embarrassing moment as this in any court, much less a state supreme court, then don’t outsource your case to ChatGPT.
Alas, this appears to have been the case before the Georgia Supreme Court when a county prosecutor was completely pantsed by a sharp-eyed judge who asked her about the fake cases she cited in support of her case.
Uh, uh, uh, uh …
The judge pulled an old Columbo, “Oh, and one more thing,” before he allowed the attorney to step away from the lectern after arguing her partially fake case.
So before you sit down, there’s one more thing I need to ask you about, unfortunately. In reviewing the trial court’s order denying the motion for new trial, there are at least five citations to cases that don’t exist. And there’s at least five more citations to cases that do not support the proposition for which they’re cited, including three quotations that don’t exist. My understanding is that you prepared the order for new trial — uh, the denial order — for the trial court. Were those citations in the version of the order that you submitted to the trial court? [Emphasis added]
It’s not as if this were a trifling case, either. This was a well-known murder case in Georgia, and the fake cases “hallucinated” by AI were used to deny defendant Hannah Payne a new trial, prompting the appeal to the state supreme court.
An absolutely excruciating moment at the Georgia Supreme Court this week.
Justice Peterson pressed state attorney Deborah Leslie over her citations to cases that apparently don’t exist. pic.twitter.com/D9Ww7sYvBF
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) March 20, 2026
The judge asked if the fake cases were used in the state’s brief to deny the woman a new trial. At first, Clayton County Assistant District Attorney Chantel Leslie said, “No, your honor, I do not believe so.” But the judge fixed her with a dead stare and intoned, “So those those non-existent cases were cited in your initial brief opposing the motion for new trial.”
She replied, “Your honor, I’m not aware of that, but I would be glad to research that and provide the court with a supplement.”
That’s OK, dipstick lady prosecutor, the wonderful legal site, The Volokh Conspiracy, did your job for you. The website found that, yes, both the initial and revised orders cited the bogus cases.
Payne, who has been sentenced to life in prison, has argued that she received bad counsel. Her original attorney missed two obvious self-defense arguments for Payne’s actions. And it looks as if Payne’s legal woes continue.
The attorney didn’t notice the fake cases, either.
Law and Crime reports that the same bogus cases were mentioned in both orders not to give her a new trial.
During oral arguments, an attorney representing Payne apologized for not catching the multiple apparent errors in the orders.
“I’m sorry I didn’t catch it,” appellate lawyer Andrew Fleischman said. “I sometimes don’t read all the cases cited in my opponent’s brief, and this was an instance where I didn’t do that. I regret that I did not bring this to the court’s attention. I am sorry about it.”
It sounds like the defendant probably not only has grounds for a new trial, but maybe even a big, fat, civil lawsuit as well.
AI’s machine learning makes up stuff sometimes to draw conclusions that aren’t real if there’s a dearth of writings about a subject. These manifestations of facts — fake news — are known as hallucinations.
It sounds like homegirl’s attorney was doing a little hallucinating himself.
Here’s hoping that real justice is done in this case.
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