Kenosha County, Wisconsin judge sanctions prosecutor over AI use in court filings

A Wisconsin judge sanctioned a prosecutor for secretly using artificial intelligence in court filings, and getting the law wrong in a burglary case that ended up being dismissed.

However, attorneys said the dismissal was for other reasons.

As reported by CBS 58 Milwaukee, Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge David Hughes sanctioned county District Attorney Xavier Solis during a hearing in the case of Christain Garrett, 26, and Cornelius Garrett, 32, who in 2023 were charged with a combined 74 criminal counts — 38 of them felonies — related to burglary and property damage.

Court documents requested by CBS 58 indicated that the defense moved to dismiss the case in August of last year. The defense said a reply by the state contained "AI hallucinations," documents said.

The case was dismissed for lack of probable cause this past Friday.

Defense attorney Michael Cicchini, representing Cornelius Garrett, said the dismissal was based only on the lack of probable cause that his client committed a crime, and not Solis' AI error, CBS 58 reported. The judge's ruling dismissing the charges was based on evidence the state presented at a preliminary hearing in 2023, when a different district attorney was in office, Cicchini told the station.

The dismissal was "without prejudice," which means a new case could be filed in the future.

The AI debacle drew sharp scrutiny from legal experts.

"It's just another good learning lesson for all of us in the legal community to review our work, to check it for accuracy," said criminal defense attorney Jaimie Pagac. "These are just pillars of what we do to make sure we're giving our clients the best representation possible."

In a statement, the district attorney acknowledged the error and emphasized the office's commitment to accuracy going forward.