NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former NFL player who is charged with murder in his girlfriend's death in Tennessee asked an AI bot for advice on what to do about the woman’s injuries and what the signs of a fall are before he called 911, authorities said in court.
New York Jets first-round draft pick Darron Lee's conversations with ChatGPT about Gabriella Perpetuo started on Feb. 4, the day before first responders went to a home in Ooltewah, a Chattanooga suburb, for a call of CPR in progress and found her already deceased, according to messages displayed by prosecutors during a court hearing Monday.
Lee faces charges of first-degree murder and of tampering with or fabricating evidence. He is being held in jail without bond.
The AI inquiries shown in a Chattanooga courtroom did not admit wrongdoing, and in one instance, 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.”
Deputy public defender Mike Little, who represented Lee during the hearing, said “Something happened but we don't know what happened.” The judge found probable cause to advance the case.
In one of the messages displayed by prosecutors, 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 isnt waking or responding, what do I do?”
Another Lee message 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.”
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.
Authorities carrying out a search warrant found multiple kinds of trauma to the woman’s body, including 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, the affidavit said.
She also had a severe brain injury and a broken neck, a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office detective testified at a prior hearing. She had more stab wounds on her legs while wearing pants without cut marks, suggesting the pants were put on afterward, Wamp has said.
In body camera footage shown in court 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, and when Perpetuo didn't respond, he said he called 911.
Crime scene detectives also identified blood that had been attempted to be cleaned in multiple areas of the house, in addition to cleaning supplies near where testing confirmed blood stains but no blood was visible, according to an affidavit.
Perpetuo's family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Lee.
Wamp has said Lee was on probation in Florida for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in one county and battery in another, and on probation in Ohio for attempted battery.
The 31-year-old Lee played 58 games with the Jets, Kansas City and Buffalo from 2016 through the 2020 seasons. The former Ohio State linebacker was the 20th overall pick in 2016 by the Jets. He was the defensive MVP of the 2015 Sugar Bowl.
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