When it comes to public defense, it seems like the only news is bad news. We are seeing nationwide shortages of public defenders. In some places, the demand for public defenders is so dire that their workload has become a constitutional issue and people are being allowed to walk because no one is there to represent them:
As far as the other side? I’ll put it this way: they have so many resources that they can afford to prosecute someone for throwing a sandwich. With all the time and discretion on their hands, you’d imagine that prosecutors are taking their time to do the paperwork required to send someone to jail. Turns out even they are being swayed by the large language modeling of all things legal. And while that might be cool when it comes to grunt work, human intelligence should be in the driver’s seat on matters of fundamental liberty. Gov Tech has coverage:
Northern California prosecutors used artificial intelligence to write a criminal court filing that contained references to nonexistent legal cases and precedents, Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson said in a statement.
…
“A prosecutor recently used artificial intelligence in preparing a filing, which resulted in an inaccurate citation,” Wilson said in the statement to The Sacramento Bee. “Once the error was discovered, the filing was immediately withdrawn.”
As bad as this is, the harms could be managed if it were a one-off. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re starting at serial prosecutorial error:
“The Nevada County District Attorney’s Office has, in at least three criminal cases in recent weeks, filed briefing citing to fabricated (legal) authority,” wrote lawyers for the nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, which is representing Kjoller along with a Nevada County public defender.
While we’re on the topic of prosecutorial error, few things should set off bigger alarms than repeated Brady violations. Lazy AI usage pales in comparison to the shame of over 200 people being sentenced to death because prosecutors withheld exonerating evidence. Nonetheless, it blows my mind that the team that is already in the lead on resources is using shortcuts to get guilty pleas and verdicts.
Maybe it should be fair game to let ChatGPT do part of being a lawyer for you. But whenever you submit your filings, whatever is in them should be on you. That’s your responsibility, regardless of whether an intern or a large language model got sloppy and made up a case to make it easier for you to imprison someone.
California Prosecutor Says AI Caused Errors in Criminal Case [Gov Tech]
Earlier: Public Defender Schedules Are So Swamped It Probably Isn’t Constitutional
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™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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