ATLANTA (Court TV) — Justices with the Georgia Supreme Court have sanctioned an assistant district attorney and asked a trial court to revisit its decision to deny a defendant a new trial.
Hannah Payne testified in court on Dec. 11, 2023. (Court TV)
Hannah Payne, 27, was sentenced to life behind bars plus 13 years after a jury convicted her of murder and false imprisonment in the death of 62-year-old Kenneth Herring, as well as possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Payne testified at her trial that she had been trying to stop Herring from leaving the scene of a traffic accident and continuing to create danger on the road when she used her own car to block him in and pulled out her gun. Prosecutors described Payne as a vigilante, while her defense said that she acted in self-defense after the victim grabbed her.
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Oral arguments in front of the Georgia Supreme Court began with a focus on the merits of the case and whether Payne’s trial counsel was ineffective, but things went sideways after the justices revealed that cases cited in both the prosecution’s brief and the trial court’s order were either fictitious or did not stand for the proposition asserted. “As a result of these filings, we have been sidetracked from our obligation of resolving the merits of Payne’s appeal and have had to devote significant time and resources to the discovery of this misconduct and deciding what to do about it,” Justice Benjamin Land wrote in the majority opinion.
The justices identified nine errant citations initially; Assistant Clayton County District Attorney Deborah Leslie, who penned the briefs, identified an additional 12 errors, which she blamed on her use of AI. In a supplemental brief filed with the Georgia Supreme Court, Leslie said the errors were unintentional and that she assumed full responsibility.
“While we have no rule against the responsible use of artificial intelligence software by attorneys, citing cases that do not exist or do not support the proposition for which they are cited is a violation of this Court’s rules and falls far beneath the conduct we expect from Georgia lawyers,” Land wrote.
MORE | Court that denied Hannah Payne new trial cited nonexistent cases from state brief
The justices said that because Leslie’s errant citations appeared in the order that she had authored for the trial court denying Payne a new trial, the trial court must pen a new order. “The trial court’s order shall not contain any fictitious or misattributed case citations,” Land said. “And given the unfortunate circumstances that have led us to this point, the trial court’s order shall not be prepared by counsel for either party.”
In addition to remanding the case to the trial court, the Georgia Supreme Court Justices took the additional step of admonishing both Leslie and the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office. Leslie is further sanctioned and will not be allowed to argue cases in front of the Georgia Supreme Court for six months. To reinstate her privilege, she must complete 12 hours of continuing legal education beyond what is required for continuing membership with the Georgia Bar Association, which licenses attorneys in the state.
Justices Shawn Lagrua and Verda Colvin concurred with most of Land’s majority opinion, but said they dissented with the decision to admonish the Clayton County District Attorney.
