Mosque gunman wanted online fame. A muted court hearing shows how New Zealand has tried to curb that

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — In a near-empty courthouse, in front of almost no one, the appeal by New Zealand’s most reviled killer was heard in muted fashion with little mention of the details of the country's deadliest mass shooting.

Such is New Zealand's desire to smother the racist motivations of Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 Muslims praying at two mosques in the city of Christchurch in 2019. Tarrant, a self-professed white supremacist, referred to other perpetrators of hate-fueled massacres when he committed his attack and other mass shooters have cited his actions since.

Yet it’s rare to encounter the Australian man’s words in New Zealand, the country where he migrated with a plan to amass semiautomatic guns and carry out the slaughter.

Officials have sought to curb the spread of his views, including through a legal ban on his racist manifesto and a video he livestreamed of the shooting. The effort to prevent public exposure to Tarrant is perhaps most apparent in New Zealand’s courts, where he sought this week to recant his guilty pleas.

A three-judge panel in the Court of Appeal in Wellington heard final arguments Friday by Crown lawyers opposing Tarrant’s application to have his admissions in 2020 to charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder discarded. He is serving life in prison without a chance of parole, but the case would return to court for a full trial if he is allowed to revoke his guilty pleas.

The 35-year-old told the court this week he didn't want to plead guilty and made the “irrational” admissions during a “nervous breakdown” induced by his solitary and austere prison conditions. But Crown lawyers opposing his appeal bid said in their response Friday there was no evidence for the claims that he was seriously mentally ill.

Experts had ruled Tarrant was fit to enter pleas, and his former lawyers and prison staff didn't raise concerns either.

“It’s difficult to see what more could’ve been done," Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes told the court. Tarrant, he added, "is an unreliable witness and his narrative should be treated with caution.”

The evidence against Tarrant — including his own livestream of the massacre, in which he filmed his face — was so overwhelming that a guilty verdict was assured if he had fought the charges in a trial, the lawyers said.

“Pleading guilty to charges where his guilt is certain can’t be seen to be irrational,” Hawes said.

One topic nearly absent from the weeklong hearing was any mention of the hateful motivations Tarrant cited for committing the crimes. Lawyers both supporting and opposing Tarrant’s bid avoided reference to his white supremacist views, and proceedings unfolded in the quiet and stolid way New Zealand court cases usually do.

But there were signs the court sought to limit the public’s exposure to Tarrant, as New Zealand’s justice system has done before. Almost nobody was permitted to view the gunman's evidence and the appeal bid unfolded in front of nine reporters, nine lawyers, a few court staff, and an empty public gallery.

Tarrant was permitted to watch the proceedings by video conference from Auckland Prison, but his image was not visible in the courtroom except when he gave evidence. Apart from in Christchurch, where the bereaved and wounded survivors watched a livestream of the hearing at the local courthouse, the shooter was invisible.

The approach New Zealand has enacted — in which even news outlets name the shooter as few times as possible in each article — stands at odds with the publicity given to trials for racist mass killers before, including widely covered proceedings for the Norwegian murderer Anders Breivik, whom Tarrant years later cited as an inspiration. Crown lawyers urged the appeal judges Friday to thwart the prospect of the matter returning to court in a lengthy public trial, which would happen if the Australian’s bid to recant his guilt was successful.

“Keeping this case alive is a source of immense distress” to the shooter’s victims, Crown lawyer Madeleine Laracy said. “It doesn’t allow them to heal.”

The judges' decision will be released later. New Zealand's appeals court delivers 90% of its judgments within three months of a hearing's end, according to the Court's website.

If his bid to revoke his guilty pleas is unsuccessful, Tarrant's case will return to the appeals court for a later hearing where he will seek a review of his life 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)

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 - Jonathan Hudson, left, and Shane Tait, then defense lawyers for Brenton Tarrant, arrive at the Christchurch District Court in Christchurch, New Zealand, Aug. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

The Court of Appeal in Wellington, New Zealand, is photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)

Utah appeared to find a loophole in the NBA's player participation policy, but the league sent a message Thursday by hitting the Jazz with a $500,000 fine.

The NBA also docked the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for holding out Pascal Siakam and two other starters in a Feb. 3 game against the Jazz.

The policy was put in place in September 2023 to try to discourage clubs from purposely losing in order to improve their chances with the draft lottery. This year's draft is considered the strongest in several years, possibly incentivizing clubs like the Jazz to position themselves for a high pick.

The Jazz did not play stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of recent close games. Both played three quarters in recent road games against Miami and Orlando. The Magic rallied from 17 points down to win 120-117, but the Jazz defeated the Heat 115-111.

Jazz coach Will Hardy was asked after the game at Miami whether he considered playing Markkanen and Jackson in the fourth quarter.

“I wasn’t,” Hardy said succinctly.

Hardy said Thursday night after a loss to Portland that he was following the advice of the team's medical staff.

“I sat Lauri because he was on a minutes restriction," he said. "So if our medical team puts a minutes restriction on Lauri, I’ll try to keep Lauri healthy.”

Jackson's minutes are restricted because of a growth on his knee.

In fining the Jazz said, the NBA said in its release “these players were otherwise able to continue to play and the outcomes of the games were thereafter in doubt.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement the competition committee and team owners will work "to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”

“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” Silver said.

Silver likely will further address the topic when he meets with the media Saturday during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.

“Agree to disagree ...,” Jazz owner Ryan Smith posted on social media. “Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense ...”

The NBA fined Utah $100,000 last season after the Jazz rested Markkanen in multiple games.

He and the recently-acquired Jackson are the building blocks for the Jazz to try to get back into contention. They traded with Memphis on Feb. 3 for the two-time All-Star and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year.

Jackson, however, will be out for the foreseeable future. He will undergo surgery over the NBA all-star break to remove a growth from his left knee, discovered by an MRI in a physical following the trade. Jackson averaged 22.3 points in 24 minutes per game after joining the Jazz.

Utah has prioritized player development with younger players on its roster at the expense of chasing wins. The front office is motivated to hold onto a first-round pick in this year's draft that is top-eight protected. Falling outside the bottom eight in the standings means Utah would lose that pick to Oklahoma City.

A number of teams, including the Jazz, would seem to have a great interest in securing a high selection for this year's draft.

One of those top prospects plays just south of Salt Lake. BYU's AJ Dybantsa is considered a likely top-three and potentially franchise-changing pick along with Duke's Cameron Boozer and Kansas' Darryn Peterson.

But it's also a deep draft where simply getting into the lottery could mean still getting a shot at a difference-making player.

The Jazz, 18-37 entering Thursday night's game against Portland, will miss the postseason for the fourth year in a row. This comes after a six-year stretch in which the Jazz made the playoffs each season.

Under the direction of CEO Danny Ainge and his son and team president, Austin, the Jazz ultimately are trying to return to the glory days when they didn't just make the playoffs. The John Stockton-Karl Malone teams in 1990s were regular championship contenders, making the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

Freelance writer John Coon in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

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

Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy watches play during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)

Utah Jazz center Jaren Jackson Jr. (20) is defended by Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) drives to the basket against Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)