Man pleads insanity in mom’s death

A Pasadena man accused of killing his mother with a shotgun as she sat on her couch this summer is pleading insanity.

In court papers filed earlier this month, attorneys for Zachary Thomas Neiman, 25, wrote, “(H)e is not criminally responsible because, at the time of the conduct charged, he lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct, or to conform that conduct to the requirements of the law.”

The court filings don’t detail Mr. Neiman’s mental problems, and his public defenders and the prosecutor assigned to the case couldn’t be reached for comment.

At the time of Mr. Neiman’s arrest,...