He denied an allegation from Michel’s new lawyers that Kenner appeared to have a financial interest in the program.
Rapper Pras convicted of conspiracy, awaits sentencing Michel was found guilty in April on all 10 counts he was charged with, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the top counts. He is free ahead of sentencing, which has not yet been set.
“At bottom, the AI program failed Kenner, and Kenner failed Michel. The closing argument was deficient, unhelpful, and a missed opportunity that prejudiced the defense,” wrote Zeidenberg. His other arguments for a new trial included the jury being prejudiced by being allowed to hear references to the “crime fraud exception” and “co-conspirators.”
Michel was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration. His trial included testimony ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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Kenner had argued during the trial the Grammy-winning rapper simply wanted to make money and got bad legal advice as he reinvented himself in the world of politics.
It wasn’t immediately clear when a judge might rule on the motion for a new trial.
Use of generative AI in the legal profession is in the early stages, but it could see much more widespread adoption as products improve, said John Villasenor, a professor of engineering and public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. The American Bar Association does not yet have any guidelines on the use of AI in the legal profession, though there is a new task force studying the issue, a spokeswoman said.
Using it for closing arguments is complicated because of the many factors that develop over the course of a trial, he said. Generative AI , meanwhile, also sometimes produces “hallucinations,” statements that initially read as if they are accurate but are not.
“A good attorney coming up with closing arguments will be mindful of basic goals of the case but also of the specific ways in which the trial has played out,” he said. Even as products improve, “attorneys that use AI should make sure they very carefully fact check anything they are going to use.”
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