Source: CBS News

The Georgia Supreme Court vacated the lower court’s prior denial of Hannah Payne’s motion for a new trial and returned the matter to the lower court for reassessment after finding that the prosecution’s briefs contained citations to non‑existent cases and to cases that did not support the propositions for which they were cited. The opinion identifies Assistant District Attorney Deborah Leslie as the author of the problematic brief and records that the state's appellate brief likewise appeared to rely on citations that did not stand for the asserted propositions. Justice Benjamin A. Land wrote that such citation of non-existent or unsupportive cases violates the Court’s rules.

The opinion notes that Leslie admitted using artificial intelligence software to draft the briefs and acknowledged failing to verify the citations before filing. Because of those citation failures, the court suspended Leslie’s privilege to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court for six months and conditioned reinstatement on completing an additional 12 hours of continuing legal education covering ethics, brief writing, and the use of artificial intelligence in the legal system. The underlying facts in the case: in May 2019 authorities say Hannah Payne followed and blocked a car driven by 62‑year‑old Kenneth Herring after a crash, and an altercation ended with Payne shooting Herring in the stomach, killing him; a Clayton County jury in 2023 found Payne guilty of felony murder, malice murder, and other charges and sentenced her to life without parole plus 13 years. The Associated Press contributed to the report.