A former NFL player who is charged with his girlfriend’s murder asked an AI bot for advice, Tennessee authorities said in court. Allegedly, Darron Lee turned to ChatGPT for answers before he called 911. His conversations were presented in court this week as he stands trial in the death of Gabriella Perpetuo.
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What Is Darron Lee Charged With?
Darron Lee faces charges of first-degree murder and of tampering with or fabricating evidence. He is being held in jail without bond. Also, Perpetuo’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Lee.
Deputy public defender Mike Little represented Lee during the hearing. Little said “Something happened but we don’t know what happened.” The judge found probable cause to advance the case.
What Did Darron Allegedly Ask ChatGPT?
As reported by the Associated Press, Darron Lee’s conversations with ChatGPT about Gabriella Perpetuo began on Feb. 4. The following day, first responders went to a home in Ooltewah for a call of CPR in progress, but found Perpetuo already deceased. Prosecutors displayed the related messages during a court hearing on Monday.
The AI inquiries shown did not admit wrongdoing. However, in one instance, Darron Lee calls the injuries “self-inflicted.” But Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp said Lee was using ChatGPT as a “legal advisor,” asking it “to basically give him advice on how you cover up a crime scene.” Also, in one of the messages prosecutors displayed, Lee says:
“Dont know what to do right now, Fiancee did her crazy thing again and now she’s messed up, I wake up and she has two swollen eyes(I didnt do anything, self inflicted) she stabbed herself, slit her eye? Idk but she isn’t waking or responding, what do I do?”
Additionally, in another message, Darron Lee asked the bot what to tell a friend about handling someone non-responsive when the friend doesn’t want to call police. ChatGPT replied in part, “Here’s exactly what to tell your friend. This is the safest way to handle it without framing it as ‘police trouble.’” Lee also asked about the “physical signs of injury of slip and fall in bathroom/shower.”
What Detectives Discovered Versus What Darron Lee Told First Responders
Meanwhile, Darron Lee told deputies that the woman may have fallen in the shower. But, according to an arrest affidavit, there were extensive amounts of blood in different areas of the residence that were inconsistent with Lee’s statement. Also, crime scene detectives identified blood that had been attempted to be cleaned in multiple areas of the house. They found cleaning supplies near those areas, but no visible blood.
In body camera footage shown in court on Monday, Lee told investigators who responded to the house that he was “sleeping a long time” before he found his girlfriend unresponsive. He told investigators he saw her lying on the couch and asked if she wanted anything to eat. When Perpetuo didn’t respond, he said he called 911.
Gabriella Perpetuo Sustained Brutal Injuries
Also, authorities carrying out a search warrant found multiple kinds of trauma to Gabriella Perpetuo’s body. The affidavit listed injuries such as: a stab wound to her abdomen, an apparent human bite mark on her shoulder, a large bruise on her head, black eyes with heavy swelling, and dried blood on her face and neck.
At a prior hearing, a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office detective testified that Perpetuo had a severe brain injury and a broken neck. Meanwhile, District Attorney Coty Wamp has said Gabriella had more stab wounds on her legs while wearing pants without cut marks. This suggests the pants were put on afterward.
As for Darron Lee’s record, DA Wamp has said Lee was on probation in Florida for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in one county. He has probation in a battery case in another county, too. Also, he’s on probation in Ohio for attempted battery.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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