Antonie Dixon shot James Te Aute dead because he thought Mr Te Aute was carrying a weapon and was about to use it on him, a High Court jury has been told.
The Crown has argued Dixon, 40, lured Mr Te Aute and a colleague towards his car in January 2003 and then shot him in the back with a machine gun as he tried to run away.
But Dixon's lawyer Barry Hart said in his final submissions to the jury at the High Court in Auckland that Dixon thought he was about to be "wasted" as Mr Te Aute approached his car, and shot him in self defence.
Mr Hart described the case as a complicated one with many different legal overlays but he said Dixon did not have murder in his heart when he pulled his car up near Mr Te Aute and some colleagues in Pakuranga, southeast Auckland.
He said Mr Te Aute and his colleague had a string of convictions including firearms and grievous bodily harm charges.
The survivors who gave evidence at the trial could not be believed.
He said the suggestion that Mr Te Aute was carrying a methamphetamine pipe behind his back when approaching Dixon was wrong, and it was much more likely to have been a weapon of some sort.
"What happened to the pipe and drugs if it existed? It wasn't found at the scene. Why not? Because it wasn't there."
Mr Hart said they had approached Dixon with an intent to "do business" and Mr Te Aute was carrying a weapon. He said the men had been capable of lying to police about using drugs at first and would not be admitting they had a gun.
Attempts to paint Dixon as seeking "another Aramoana" were wrong, Mr Hart said, as he had ample opportunity to shoot more than just Mr Te Aute and did not.
He said there was a clear case for a defence of provocation if the jury found he did not act in self-defence.
Dixon is also using a defence of insanity, but Mr Hart said the jury didn't have to consider it if it felt the Crown hadn't proved the essential elements of the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The Crown yesterday argued Dixon was not insane but suffering a severe personality disorder, which did not meet the legal definition of a disease of the mind.
Mr Hart also told jury members they needed to consider each charge separately.
Dixon faces eight charges relating to an attack with a samurai sword on Renee Gunbie and Simonne Butler at Pipiroa near Thames, and the fatal shooting of Mr Te Aute in Auckland.
Dixon was found guilty in 2005 of eight charges, including murder and causing grievous bodily harm, but the Court of Appeal later ordered a second trial, suppressing its reasons for quashing the original verdicts.
