But when she finally sat down to write her statement, Wales was stuck. She struggled to find the right words, but one voice was clear: her brother's.

"I couldn't help hear his voice in my head of what he would say," Wales told NPR.

That's when the idea came to her: to use artificial intelligence to generate a video of how her late brother, Christopher Pelkey, would address the courtroom and specifically the man who fatally shot him at a red light in 2021.

On Thursday, Wales stood before the court and played the video — in what AI experts say is likely the first time the technology has been used in the U.S. to create an impact statement read by an AI rendering of the deceased victim.

A sister looking for the right words

Wales has been thinking about her victim impact statement since the initial trial in 2023. The case was retried in 2025 because of procedural problems with the first trial.

The chance to speak in court meant a great deal to Wales, who held back her emotions throughout both trials to avoid influencing the jury.

"You're told that you cannot react, you cannot emote, you cannot cry," she said. ?"We looked forward to [sentencing] because we finally were gonna be able to react."

Wales' attorney told her to humanize Pelkey and offer a complete picture of who he was.

So Wales went on a mission. She said she contacted as many people from Pelkey's life — from his elementary school teacher to high school prom date to the soldiers he served alongside in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In total, Wales gathered 48 victim impact statements — not counting her own. When it was time to write hers, she was torn between saying how she truly felt and what she thought the judge would want to hear.