Where an offender's mental functioning at the time of offending was significantly impaired by self-induced intoxication, a court will ordinarily require clear expert evidence before accepting that a pre-existing mental or cognitive impairment also made a material contribution to the offending. Planned and purposeful offending will be viewed as inconsistent with a claim that cognitive impairment materially affected decision-making. A finding by a sentencing judge about the applicability of the Verdins principles is a finding of fact, attractable of appellate intervention only if not reasonably open on the evidence.
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