A cautionary tale · Eastern District of North Carolina · 2026

This could happen to you.

A veteran Assistant U.S. Attorney in Raleigh let AI help write a brief. He didn't check it. Within three months he was out of a job, and his name was all over the national legal press.

North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys
CLE · Artificial Intelligence & the Prosecutor
17
Years at the U.S. Attorney's Office, EDNC

Not a first-year associate.

Not a solo practitioner cutting corners.

A career government lawyer with three decades of practice,

practicing in our state's own federal court.

Experience didn't save him.

The filing · December 2025

The quotes looked real. The cases were real. The words weren't in them.

Defending the Department of Defense in a veteran's health-benefits suit, he filed a response brief with fabricated quotations and misstated holdings, all attributed to real Fourth Circuit opinions.

Who caught it? The other side: a retired Air Force colonel who is himself a lawyer.
Case 2:25-cv-00041 · E.D.N.C.Resp. in Opp. · Filed 12/2025
FIVEHOUSE v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSEAuthorities cited in the government's response
Ohio Valley Env't Coal. v. Aracoma Coal Co., 556 F.3d 177 (4th Cir. 2009)
Not in the opinion
"mere allegations""must have considered""may exist"
Dow AgroSciences LLC v. Nat'l Marine Fisheries Serv., 637 F.3d 259 (4th Cir. 2011)
Not in the opinion
"The APA does not provide for a broad right of discovery"
Sierra Club v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior, 899 F.3d 260, 295–96 (4th Cir. 2018)
Opinion ends at p. 295
pin cite to a page that does not exist
Illustration built from the examples described in the court's April 2026 reprimand order. The brief's full text is not reproduced.

How a bad brief became a career-ending hearing

Dec 2025 → Apr 2026

The brief is filed

He had accidentally saved over his draft, then, as he later testified, panicked and used AI to catch back up. The citations went out unchecked.

The court asks for an explanation

His answer: a clerical error, and a draft was inadvertently filed.

No mention of AI.

Show-cause hearing ordered

The judge flags fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings and questions the explanation he was given.

The U.S. Attorney warns the whole office

"This is federal Big Boy court."

U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle, memo to staff, reminding them to maintain absolute candor.

The hearing

He admits using AI. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II puts up slides highlighting more errors in other recent filings.

He offers to retire. DOJ fires him instead.

"After his performance at the hearing, the department moved swiftly to terminate him."

U.S. Attorney Boyle

Public reprimand

A written reprimand from the court, and an open investigation by DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility.

In his own words · March 10 hearing

“The worst decision I've ever made in my 30‑year career.”

Rudy Renfer, former AUSA, E.D.N.C., as reported by the ABA Journal
“Why are you using AI to do basic issue spotting work that attorneys do every day?”U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II, from the bench
The cost

One unchecked brief.

Career Terminated

After 17 years in the office, fired within days of the hearing.

The court Public reprimand

Issued in a written order that any lawyer, reporter or future employer can read.

Department of Justice OPR investigation

Referred to DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility.

The case Credibility spent

The government's brief, and the lawyer who signed it, became the story instead of the merits.

“His professional reputation, both locally and nationally, is in tatters.”
Fivehouse v. U.S. Dep't of Defense, No. 2:25-cv-41 (E.D.N.C. Apr. 2026) (order of public reprimand)
Don't end up on the news

Your name becomes the headline.

Real headlines, all about one unchecked brief.

ABA Journal · Mar. 11, 2026Federal prosecutor resigns after AI errors found in court filing
Bloomberg Law · Mar. 2026DOJ Attorney Used Fabricated Quotes in Court Filing
Law360Prosecutor Resigns, Judge Shows Slide Deck On AI Errors
Bloomberg LawAI Blunder in ‘Big Boy Court’ Prompts DOJ Firing of Attorney
Courthouse News Service · Apr. 2026Judge rebukes ex-DOJ attorney for AI-generated brief
Bloomberg LawCourt Rebukes Fired DOJ Lawyer for ‘Odious’ and False AI Filings
MOAALegal Case Seeking GLP-1 TRICARE For Life Reversal Makes Headlines After Lawyer’s Firing
Four months later · same office

It happened again.

In July 2026 the court asked a different AUSA for a copy of a case cited in a motion to dismiss. She searched PACER, Westlaw and her own files, then told the court the truth. Her best explanation: a Google search, at a time she didn't know search engines were serving AI-generated results that could include "phantom" citations.

Thomas v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, No. 5:25-cv-242 (E.D.N.C.) · Doc. 25 · Filed 07/15/26
Bowers v. Transp. Sec. Admin., 2015 WL 3442014, at *2 (E.D. Va. May 27, 2015)
This case does not exist.

The brief had been filed in 2025. The office's Westlaw cite-check requirement didn't begin until March 2026, six months later.

You don't have to open a chatbot to be using AI.
For North Carolina prosecutors

You carry the State's credibility.

Judges extend a presumption of good faith to the government's lawyer. The court called his conduct “particularly odious” precisely because of the office he held. The duties are the ones you already have; AI just makes them easier to break.

“An attorney who outsources core research and writing obligations to generative AI assumes the risk that its output will contain fictitious authority.”
Fivehouse v. U.S. Dep't of Defense (E.D.N.C. Apr. 2026)
“…the lawyer is individually responsible for reviewing, evaluating, and ultimately relying upon the work produced by someone—or something—other than the lawyer.”
N.C. State Bar, 2024 Formal Ethics Opinion 1
Rule 1.1 · CompetenceRule 3.1 · Meritorious claimsRule 3.3 · Candor to the tribunalRule 5.3 · Nonlawyer assistanceN.C. R. Civ. P. 11
Before you sign anything

Five habits that would have prevented both.

The rule

Verify it with your own eyes.

“Always personally verify each quote or proposition with your eyes in an actual case or law or other valid source.”U.S. Attorney's Office, E.D.N.C., guidance to staff, as quoted in the court's reprimand order