Extenuating circumstances
This new defence is getting used far too much "I was depressed" or "I have a learning difficulty"
It's just the new variant on "My client has a problem with alcohol" or "My client is as thick as a very thick thing", which have been staples in magistrates' courts probably for hundreds of years. (The 19th century version being "My client was in drink at the time and is unable to remember anything.")
I think sometime in the last thirty years alcohol become an aggravating, not an extenuating, circumstance and so the names have changed by the excuse goes on.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
