New Zealand mosque shooter seeks to discard his guilty pleas, saying prison made him irrational

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The man who killed 51 Muslim worshipers at two mosques in New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting told an appeals court Monday that he felt forced to admit to the crimes because of “irrationality” due to harsh prison conditions, as he sought to have his guilty pleas discarded.

A panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in Wellington will hear five days of evidence about Brenton Tarrant’s claim that he was not fit to plead to the terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges he faced after the 2019 attack in the city of Christchurch. If his bid is successful, his case would return to court for a trial, which was averted in March 2020 when he admitted to the hate-fueled shooting.

He is also seeking to appeal his sentence of life without the chance of parole, which had never been imposed in New Zealand before. Tarrant’s evidence Monday about his mental state when he pleaded guilty was the first time he had spoken substantively in a public setting since he livestreamed the 2019 massacre on Facebook.

The Australian man, a self-declared white supremacist, migrated to New Zealand with a view to committing the massacre, which he planned in detail. He amassed a cache of semiautomatic weapons, took steps to avoid detection and wrote a lengthy manifesto before he drove from Dunedin to Christchurch in March 2019 and opened fire at two mosques.

Along with 51 people killed, the youngest a 3-year-old boy, dozens of others were severely wounded. The attack was considered one of New Zealand’s darkest days and institutions have sought to curb the spread of Tarrant’s message through legal orders and a ban on possession of his manifesto or video of the attack.

Monday’s hearing took place under tight security constraints that severely limited who could view Tarrant’s evidence, which included some reporters and those hurt or bereaved in the massacre. Tarrant, who wore a white button-down shirt and black-rimmed glasses and had a shaved head, spoke on video from a white-walled room at Auckland Prison.

Answering questions from a Crown lawyer and from lawyers representing him, Tarrant, 35, said his mental health had deteriorated due to conditions in prison, where he was held in solitary confinement with limited reading material or contact with other prisoners.

By the time he pleaded guilty, Tarrant said he was suffering from “nervous exhaustion” and uncertainty about his identity and beliefs. He had admitted to the crimes a few months before his trial was due to begin because there was “little else I could do,” he told the court.

Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes suggested to Tarrant during questioning that the Australian man had other options. He could have requested a delay in his trial date on mental health grounds or could have proceeded to trial and defended himself, Hawes said.

Hawes also put to Tarrant that there was little evidence in the documentation of his behavior by mental health experts and prison staff that he was in any kind of serious mental crisis. Tarrant suggested that signs of mental illness he displayed hadn’t been recorded and that at times he had sought to mask them.

“I was definitely doing everything possible to come across as confident, assured, mentally well,” he told the court. Tarrant’s behavior “reflected the political movement I’m a part of,” he added. “So I always wanted to put on the best front possible.”

He agreed that he had had access to legal advice throughout the court process. Tarrant’s current lawyers have been granted name suppression because they feared representing him would make them unsafe.

Bids to appeal convictions or sentences in New Zealand must be made within 20 working days. Tarrant was about two years late in seeking an appeal, filing documents with the court in September 2022.

He told the court Monday that his bid had been late because he hadn’t had access to the information required to make it.

The hearing is due to run for the rest of the week but the judges are expected to release their decision at a later date. If they reject Tarrant’s attempt to have his guilty pleas discarded, a later hearing will focus on his bid to appeal his sentence.

In this photo made from video and provided by the New Zealand Court of Appeal, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, Brenton Tarrant appears before the court by video from Auckland Prison in Auckland. (New Zealand Court of Appeal via AP)

In this photo made from video and provided by the New Zealand Court of Appeal, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, Brenton Tarrant appears before the court by video from Auckland Prison in Auckland. (New Zealand Court of Appeal via AP)

FILE - In this courtroom drawing Brenton Tarrant, the man convicted of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques, appears via video link at the Christchurch District Court, in Christchurch, New Zealand, June 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Stephanie McEwin, File)

FILE - A police officer stands guard in front of the Al Noor mosque, in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

FILE - Brenton Tarrant appears in the Christchurch District Court, in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 16, 2019. (Mark Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Hughes held the ball in his hands, occasionally tossing his latest souvenir in the air.

Hughes had done “Saturday Night Live” and cherished the chance to chat with Lorne Michaels, then appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” as part of the victory lap for the U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning men’s and women’s hockey teams. It only got better Friday when Hughes and women's goaltender Aerin Frankel threw out ceremonial first pitches at Yankee Stadium before the New York Yankees' home opener against the Miami Marlins.

“I knew a lot of things were coming, but this was the one thing I was always like wishing-slash-hoping for,” Hughes said. "Just so much fun. For both of us, it’s unreal."

Hughes scored in overtime in the men's final at the Milan Cortina Games, a few days after Frankel backstopped the women's team to also beating Canada for gold. It's the first time the U.S. has won double gold in the sport at the Olympics, and the sled hockey team made it a clean sweep at the Paralympics.

Frankel said her life hasn't changed much since other than seeing the impact the physical gold medal has on people who had never seen one.

“It’s cool to see how special that is for them,” said Frankel, who plays for the PHWL's Boston Fleet. “We’ve been super busy jumping back into pro seasons and stuff and making time for really cool opportunities like this.”

Frankel is from Westchester County and grew up in a family of Yankees fans. Hughes has become one over the seven years he has been in the area as the face of the franchise for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

Hughes played some baseball growing up, but needed to get his right throwing arm warmed up.

“We played in Dallas last week and my trainer ‘Frosty’ (Chris Scoppetto) brought gloves and I threw like 50 pitches right before morning skate,” Hughes said. “My shoulder was so sore, so I was like, ‘We’ve got to cool it.'”

Hughes' shoulder was fine. He scored twice that night against the Stars and had a five-point game Thursday night on the eve of his big baseball day.

Less than 24 hours after making 22 saves in a 3-0 shutout win over Winnipeg and U.S. Olympic starter Connor Hellebuyck, Oettinger threw a strike on his pitch from the top of the mound before the Texas Rangers' home opener. He got a loud ovation, with chants of “U-S-A!” when he was introduced.

That came after the national anthem, during which Rangers fans, like those at Stars games, yelled “Stars!” at both times that phrase came up in the song.

Oettinger wore his U.S. jersey and gold medal that everybody wants to see. Like Frankel, he said the coolest part to him is letting “other people wear it or take pictures with it and how excited they get. ... It just shows you how big the Olympics are. I think when you’re over there playing in it, you don’t really realize the magnitude, and then you get back and see how much it means to everyone is the best part.”

Oettinger, who played baseball until he was about 12, said he threw some Thursday with his younger brother, Thomas, who soon will turn 12. His brother was with him on the field and when they met former president George W. Bush, the former Rangers owner who was also at the game

“Brought my little brother and I got to take him through the clubhouse, and just a first-class organization,” Oettinger said. “Got to meet President Bush, so it has been a great day.”

A little over six weeks since scoring the tying goal late in the gold-medal game on a deflection of captain Hilary Knight's shot, Cleveland Heights' Laila Edwards got a rousing ovation for her first pitch from the mound over the plate before the Guardians' home opener.

“It’s so exciting, especially growing up and being a fan of Cleveland baseball,” Edwards said. “I played baseball in the backyard with my brother. He’s jealous, but I have to make him proud.”

Edwards, who's 22 and considered Knight's successor as the face of women's hockey in the U.S., has done a lot of winning so far this year. She helped Wisconsin to the second of back-to-back national titles, an experience she called surreal.

“I’m having so much fun and being grateful,” Edwards said. “We got back from the Olympics and three days later we were starting NCAA playoffs, so there was no rest there. That’s what we signed up for. And then to be able to win and meant everything."

AP Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins in Arlington, Texas, and AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Olympic gold medal hockey player Laila Edwards throws out a ceremonial first pitch before an opening day baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger throws a ceremonial first pitch prior to the Texas Rangers' home-opener baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

New Jersey Devils' Jack Hughes looks on during batting practice before his ceremonial first pitch for the home-opener baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins, Friday, April 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New Jersey Devils' Jack Hughes practices ahead of his first pitch before a home-opener baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins, Friday, April 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)