New Zealand Mosque Shooter Seeks to Withdraw Guilty Pleas

WELLINGTON: The man who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting told an appeals court on Monday that harsh prison conditions left him mentally unfit to plead guilty, as he sought to have his convictions overturned. Brenton Tarrant argued before the Court of Appeal that solitary confinement caused “nervous exhaustion,” forcing him to admit to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges in 2020, thereby avoiding a trial. Crown lawyers rejected the claim, saying there was no evidence he suffered a serious mental illness at the time. The hearing, which will run for five days, will determine whether Tarrant’s guilty pleas and his unprecedented sentence of life without parole should stand. Judges are expected to deliver their decision at a later date.