Oklahoma judge admits his custody order cited fake cases from ChatGPT

Associate District Judge Lawrence Wheeler of Stephens County, Oklahoma, denied a request for a mental evaluation in a custody case. His order cited earlier cases in support. A parent's lawyer found that the cited cases did not exist. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation looked into the judge at the request of the state's Council on Judicial Complaints. According to a prosecutor's August 17 letter, the judge said he used ChatGPT for research and that at least two citations it produced did not exist. The mother in the case said he later stepped aside and apologized to her former lawyer. The attorney general declined to prosecute. Any discipline rests with the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Court on the Judiciary.