A Reuters article by Mike Scarcella from the previous week, subsequently highlighted yesterday by David Lat on Original Jurisdiction:
Lawrence Wheeler, a district judge serving in Stephens County, told an investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that he had used OpenAI’s ChatGPT for research, and that the order he drafted included two citations to cases that do not exist, according to a prosecutor’s letter dated August 17 to the state attorney general’s office….
In the August 17 correspondence, Hicks indicated he stepped away from the Wheeler probe and asked Oklahoma State Attorney General Gentner Drummond to review the OSBI’s report or reassign the inquiry.
Drummond’s office, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said its criminal division had “thoroughly reviewed” the allegations and decided not to pursue them further.
The initial account appeared in The Oklahoman (Nolan Clay); the piece is behind a paywall, but the excerpt below summarizes key points:
The OSBI also examined claims that “Judge Wheeler offered to amend the order in exchange for a dismissal of a writ seeking relief from the Oklahoma Supreme Court” and that he “eavesdropped on jury deliberations,” according to the letter from the district attorney, Jason Hicks.
