A confessed Canberra killer is set to seek a court's permission to withdraw his guilty plea, several months after he admitted a murder charge.
A lawyer for Grant Allen Q Oldfield, 50, flagged the move in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday.
Oldfield, a maintenance worker, was arrested in January 2022 over the fatal bashing of Douglas Arthur Creek, 68, in Kambah.
At the time, police said they had been called to a disturbance at the Penneshaw Gardens unit complex.
Officers arrived to find Mr Creek with a number of head injuries, which resulted in his hospitalisation.
After checking himself out of hospital and returning home to the complex, Mr Creek stopped responding to attempts to contact him.
When police visited his unit to conduct a welfare check, they found him dead in a reclining chair.
Oldfield, who has not applied for bail since his arrest, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to murder.
So far, few details of the case against him have been aired in court.
However, it is understood ACT Policing homicide detectives believe Oldfield bashed Mr Creek in a dark stairwell while under the mistaken impression the 68-year-old was a drug dealer.
Since pleading guilty, Oldfield has changed lawyers and the possibility of him applying to traverse, or withdraw, his plea has been foreshadowed on a number of occasions.
On Thursday, new defence lawyer Priyanka Koci told registrar Jayne Reece she was ready to have the case listed for an application to traverse the plea.
Ms Koci said the defence would be relying upon a psychologist's report and making "substantial submissions" as part of the application.
Prosecutor Chamil Wanigaratne told the court his office would be opposing the application.
Ms Reece ultimately listed the application for hearing on July 5.
Oldfield, who was not required to appear in court on Thursday, remains behind bars on remand.
