Overview
- The Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled Tuesday, vacated the trial court’s denial of Hannah Payne’s new-trial motion and sent the case back for a clean reassessment.
- The justices found Assistant District Attorney Deborah Leslie used AI to draft filings that cited non-existent or misattributed cases, and the trial judge adopted those bad cites in a proposed order.
- As discipline, the court barred Leslie from appearing before it for six months and ordered 12 hours of extra continuing legal education on ethics, brief writing, and AI use.
- The opinion faulted the Clayton County District Attorney’s office for missing the errors and urged trial judges to scrutinize proposed orders with possible AI use in mind.
- Payne remains convicted and serving a life term plus 13 years, but the remand revives appellate review that could change the next steps in her case.