Chris Pelkey was killed three years ago in a shooting on a road in Arizona, USA.
With the help of artificial intelligence, he 'returned' this month, at least visually, to address the courtroom during the sentencing of his killer.
His family members say they used technology to give him the opportunity to speak in his own words about the incident in which he was killed.
Although some experts believe that the use of artificial intelligence is a step towards the future, others argue that its use in the judiciary could be on very slippery ground.
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Pelkey's family used his voicemails, recordings and photographs to recreate the man, who was killed at the age of 37, through artificial intelligence, his sister Stacey Wells told the BBC.
She wrote the message that her brother's character spoke in the courtroom, guided by knowing how much her brother was willing to forgive, she added.
"I am addressing Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who killed me, it is a shame that we met under these circumstances..
"In another life, we would probably be friends.", said the character Pelki created using artificial intelligence.
"I believe in forgiveness and in a God who forgives. It has always been that way and it still is.", added the figure of a man, who had a gray cap on his head.
Horkasitas' guilt had already been established.
The message was broadcast during the verdict reading, about four years after he killed Pelkey while he was standing at a traffic light.
Todd Lang, the judge presiding over the case, seemed moved by what he heard.
He sentenced Horcasitas to 10 years and six months in prison for murder.
"I liked this AI-generated video, thank you for that."
"As angry as you are and as rightfully angry as your family is, I've heard messages of forgiveness that have seemed sincere," Lang said.
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It's no surprise that artificial intelligence was used in the sentencing, says Paul Grimm, a retired federal judge and law professor at Duke University.
Arizona courts have begun using the technology in other ways, he adds.
When the Supreme Court announces rulings, artificial intelligence is used to make them clearer to people.
In the Horkasitas trial, this technology was allowed because the message was broadcast without the jury present, but was only intended for the judge, Grim adds.
"We will turn to artificial intelligence on a case-by-case basis, but we cannot resist technology," he says.
Experts like Derek Leben, a professor of business ethics at Carnegie Mellon University, are concerned about this practice and the court precedent.
While he does not question the intentions or actions of the victim's family, he is concerned about the idea that in all future cases, messages from loved ones will not be in line with the wishes of the deceased.
"If others do this in the future, will we always get a true representation of what the person, in this case the victim, wanted?" he asks.
For Wells, the sister of the murdered Pelkey, this was an opportunity for her brother to speak one last time.
"We approached this thinking about ethics and morality, because this is a powerful tool."
"Just like you can use a hammer to break a window or knock down a wall, it can also be used as a tool to build a house, and that's how we used this technology," he explains.
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