The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in a case involving a man found guilty of murdering a Palmerston North drug dealer who disappeared in 2002.
Stephen Hudson was jailed for at least 16 years earlier this year after a jury found him guilty of Nicholas Pike's murder.
Hudson's lawyer told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that evidence at the trial relating to earlier attacks carried out by Hudson were highly prejudicial.
He also raised questions about a number of confessions Hudson was said to have made to other men in prison with him.
However, the Crown said the evidence of the earlier attacks was important because it disclosed cold-blooded attacks carried out on others without warning by Hudson.
