A white supremacist who shot and killed 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 launched an appeal Monday seeking to overturn his conviction.
Brenton Tarrant, an Australian former gym instructor, admitted carrying out New Zealand’s deadliest modern-day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in jail in August 2020.
Now, the convicted killer argues that his “torturous and inhumane” detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty, according to a court synopsis of the case.
Tarrant is being held in a specialist unit for prisoners of extreme risk at Auckland Prison, seldom interacting with inmates or other people.
“I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time,” Tarrant told the court, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Tarrant said his state of mind was such that he had considered trying to implicate President Donald Trump in the crime.
