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Darron Lee
ChatGPT
Murder
AI evidence
Criminal justice
Legal advice
Prosecutors
Artificial intelligence
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. —
A preliminary hearing for former NFL Player Darron Lee revealed new details about what prosecutors say took place hours before he was accused of killing his girlfriend inside an Ooltewah home.
Prosecutors are now focusing not only on what investigators say happened, but also on what they say Lee typed into a chatbot before deputies arrived.
In newly released body camera video, Lee told deputies he did not know what happened.
“She wasn’t saying anything and that’s when I called 911 immediately and I was like what is going on…” Lee said.
Prosecutors presented more than body camera footage in court, introducing messages they said Lee sent to ChatGPT.
A detective read messages prosecutors said were sent the day before Lee called 911.
“I wake up and she has two swollen eyes, I didn’t do anything, self inflicted. She stabbed herself split her eye,” the detective read.
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Another message shown in court read: “She’s not waking up or responding, what do I do?”
Prosecutors also displayed ChatGPT’s response, which included the line: “Here’s what to say without framing it as police trouble.”
Image: WTVC
District Attorney Coty Wamp told the court that Lee used ChatGPT as a “legal advisor.”
“He has conversations, dozens of conversations, back and forth with chatgpt over a two day period about what he did to Gabriella Perpetua in detail,” Wamp said.
“He asks how to cover it up. He asks what to say to 911”
Prosecutors said the exchanges help establish their timeline of events.
Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt, the head of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Criminal Justice Department, said artificial intelligence is progressively being addressed in courtrooms.
“The use of AI in criminal activity is something we’re increasingly dealing with in the courts,” Dierenfeldt said.
Dierenfeldt pointed to a recent federal ruling in which a judge found that conversations with a public AI platform are not protected by attorney-client privilege.
“That’s not privileged information, it’s a third party platform, so you’ve, in effect, waived your confidentiality,” Dierenfeldt said.
He also warned that user agreements can affect how information entered into AI platforms is treated.
“These user agreements, when you sign those, you’re actually publishing anything that you enter there publicly,” Dierenfeldt said.
Dierenfeldt said he expects AI-related evidence to become more common in criminal trials.
“More and more people are using AI to replace search engines and again. So as as that becomes a more common practice, you’re gonna see more and more evidence revolving around the use of AI introduced at criminal trials,” he said.
You can catch up on our previous reporting on Lee’s Preliminary hearing here.
This is a developing story.
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