Letters poured in from battalion comrades who had served with Christopher Pelkey in Iraq and Afghanistan, fellow missionaries, and even a former prom date. A niece and nephew also addressed the court. Yet, the voice that mattered most to Mr. Pelkey’s older sister, Stacey Wales, was unlikely to be heard when an Arizona judge handed down the sentence to the man who killed her brother during a 2021 road rage incident — her brother's own. Ms. Wales, 47, had a thought: what if her brother, 37, who had completed three combat tours with the U. S. Army, could speak for himself during sentencing?What would he say to Gabriel Horcasitas, 54, the man found guilty of manslaughter in his case? The answer came on May 1, when Ms. Wales pressed play on a laptop in a Maricopa County, Ariz. , courtroom. A likeness of her brother appeared on an 80-inch television screen—the same screen that had earlier shown autopsy photos of Mr.

Pelkey and security footage of his fatal shooting at an intersection in Chandler, Ariz. This likeness was created using artificial intelligence. “It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances, ” the avatar of Mr. Pelkey stated. “In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God, who forgives. I always have and I still do. ” [Additional subscription and access notices omitted. ]