Can AI voice cloning in court decide a death penalty case?
A four-decade-old murder case in Utah is about to test uncharted legal ground: whether a jury can hear a synthetic replica of a dead woman’s voice, built from an AI voice clone using ElevenLabs software, as evidence in a death penalty sentencing. Weber County prosecutors say the technology could let jurors hear Joyce Yost’s own words again. Defense attorneys and independent tech experts say it could do something far more dangerous — mislead the very people deciding whether a man lives or dies.
Key takeaways
- Weber County prosecutors want to play an AI-generated voice clone of murder victim Joyce Yost during Douglas Lovell’s upcoming resentencing hearing.
- Yost was murdered in 1985 by Lovell to stop her from testifying against him in a rape case; her body was never found.
- The clone was built with ElevenLabs software using audio clips and a transcript of Yost’s preliminary hearing testimony.
- Two University of Utah experts warned the AI voice could unfairly sway jurors and cannot be verified as accurate.
- Judge Michael DiReda is expected to rule on admissibility by mid-November, with sentencing currently set for late February 2027.
Prosecutors Propose Using AI Voice Clone of Murder Victim
Prosecutors in Farmington, Utah, have asked a judge for permission to play a synthetic reconstruction of Joyce Yost’s voice in front of the jury that will decide Douglas Lovell’s fate. The request centers on a piece of testimony Yost gave decades ago, before she was killed and could never take the stand again.
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