Where a sentencing judge accepts expert psychological diagnoses but rejects the offender's personal history upon which those diagnoses are partly based, the sentencing judge must still explain how the accepted mental conditions bore on the sentencing process. The Bugmy principle's force of application depends on the offender's accepted personal history, and misunderstandings of evidence relevant to that history may affect the weight given to mitigatory factors. The De La Rosa principles regarding mental condition do not give rise to automatic presumptions or consequences, but a sentencing judge who accepts the existence of significant mental health issues must address the submissions made as to how those issues bear on moral culpability, general deterrence, and onerousness of custody.
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