{"id":147811,"date":"2026-04-02T15:05:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/02\/atlanta-prosecutor-repeatedly-cites-non-existent-cases-to-avoid-murder-retrial\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:05:44","slug":"atlanta-prosecutor-repeatedly-cites-non-existent-cases-to-avoid-murder-retrial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/02\/atlanta-prosecutor-repeatedly-cites-non-existent-cases-to-avoid-murder-retrial\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Prosecutor Repeatedly Cites Non-Existent Cases To Avoid Murder Retrial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAI Hallucinations\u201d in legal work product have aged like macaroni art. At first it was cute enough that you ignored the childish errors and inattention to detail. But once your refrigerator runs out of room for macaroni glued to printer paper you start to realize the severity of this shit popping up everywhere. The silver lining used to be that the underlying cases tended to be some contract dispute that doesn\u2019t mean much in the scheme of things. Now we see judges<\/a> and assistant US Attorneys<\/a> caught red-handed outsourcing legal writing to blackbox LLMs. And as the ubiquity of AI enabling bad lawyering goes up, it\u2019s only a matter of time before this conversation happens:<\/p>\n

Inmate 1: So what are you in for?<\/p>\n

Inmate 2: AI Hallucinations.<\/p>\n

And while that conversation could happen anywhere, Georgia wouldn\u2019t be a bad state to bet on. Atlanta News First<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

Calling her efforts to oppose a new trial for a convicted murderer \u201cexpanded legal research,\u201d a metro Atlanta attorney has admitted using AI to cite nonexistent cases in a recent appearance before the Supreme Court of Georgia.<\/p>\n

In a signed affidavit, Deborah Leslie \u2013 who is listed as an attorney for the appellate and assets forfeitures unit in the Clayton County District Attorney\u2019s Office \u2013 has apologized for citing some cases that don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

On March 18, Payne appeared before the state Supreme Court as it was hearing arguments in Hannah Payne\u2019s attorneys\u2019 request for a new trial.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cExpanded Legal Research?\u201d That\u2019s what we\u2019re calling it now? At least \u201cThis was once revealed to me in a dream<\/a>\u201d was earnest and quasi-poetic. That said, I admit \u201cI went to the make-shit-up machine to help me with my job and submitted the made-up shit without bothering to check its veracity\u201d doesn\u2019t roll as cleanly off the tongue.<\/p>\n

Dealing with prosecutors is rough enough without having to worry if they\u2019re just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Georgia\u2019s public defender office has been facing a staffing shortage for years<\/a> \u2014 to be overburdened with work and know that the other side isn\u2019t even bothering to check their work must be maddening. Thankfully Payne\u2019s lawyers had the time to call out the prosecutorial misconduct. One of them, Brian Steel, has built a reputation for putting belt to ass when prosecutors step out of line. At least it wasn\u2019t a secret ex parte meeting<\/a> this time! <\/p>\n

Payne\u2019s lawyers argue that that the underlying murder case relied on a botched jury instructions. Hopefully she gets a second chance at justice. <\/p>\n

Attorney With Clayton County DA\u2019s Office Apologizes For Using AI, Citing Fake Cases In Court Brief<\/a> [Atlanta News First]<\/p>\n

\n
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com<\/a> and by Tweet\/Bluesky at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Atlanta Prosecutor Repeatedly Cites Non-Existent Cases To Avoid Murder Retrial<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI Hallucinations\u201d in legal work product have aged like macaroni art. At first it was cute enough that you ignored the childish errors and inattention to detail. But once your refrigerator runs out of room for macaroni glued to printer paper you start to realize the severity of this shit popping up everywhere. The silver lining used to be that the underlying cases tended to be some contract dispute that doesn\u2019t mean much in the scheme of things. Now we see judges<\/a> and assistant US Attorneys<\/a> caught red-handed outsourcing legal writing to blackbox LLMs. And as the ubiquity of AI enabling bad lawyering goes up, it\u2019s only a matter of time before this conversation happens:<\/p>\n

Inmate 1: So what are you in for?<\/p>\n

Inmate 2: AI Hallucinations.<\/p>\n

And while that conversation could happen anywhere, Georgia wouldn\u2019t be a bad state to bet on. Atlanta News First<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

Calling her efforts to oppose a new trial for a convicted murderer \u201cexpanded legal research,\u201d a metro Atlanta attorney has admitted using AI to cite nonexistent cases in a recent appearance before the Supreme Court of Georgia.<\/p>\n

In a signed affidavit, Deborah Leslie \u2013 who is listed as an attorney for the appellate and assets forfeitures unit in the Clayton County District Attorney\u2019s Office \u2013 has apologized for citing some cases that don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

On March 18, Payne appeared before the state Supreme Court as it was hearing arguments in Hannah Payne\u2019s attorneys\u2019 request for a new trial.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cExpanded Legal Research?\u201d That\u2019s what we\u2019re calling it now? At least \u201cThis was once revealed to me in a dream<\/a>\u201d was earnest and quasi-poetic. That said, I admit \u201cI went to the make-shit-up machine to help me with my job and submitted the made-up shit without bothering to check its veracity\u201d doesn\u2019t roll as cleanly off the tongue.<\/p>\n

Dealing with prosecutors is rough enough without having to worry if they\u2019re just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Georgia\u2019s public defender office has been facing a staffing shortage for years<\/a> \u2014 to be overburdened with work and know that the other side isn\u2019t even bothering to check their work must be maddening. Thankfully Payne\u2019s lawyers had the time to call out the prosecutorial misconduct. One of them, Brian Steel, has built a reputation for putting belt to ass when prosecutors step out of line. At least it wasn\u2019t a secret ex parte meeting<\/a> this time! <\/p>\n

Payne\u2019s lawyers argue that that the underlying murder case relied on a botched jury instructions. Hopefully she gets a second chance at justice. <\/p>\n

Attorney With Clayton County DA\u2019s Office Apologizes For Using AI, Citing Fake Cases In Court Brief<\/a> [Atlanta News First]<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com<\/a> and by Tweet\/Bluesky at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Atlanta Prosecutor Repeatedly Cites Non-Existent Cases To Avoid Murder Retrial<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAI Hallucinations\u201d in legal work product have aged like macaroni art. At first it was cute enough that you ignored the childish errors and inattention to detail. But once your refrigerator runs out of room for macaroni glued to printer paper you start to realize the severity of this shit popping up everywhere. The silver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":147812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chris-Williams-2025-BurzP6.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}