This defense has been used before, as the article says - and it's kind of a warning to me as to how powerful these energy drinks etc can be. Among other effects, they cause sleep deprivation.

Due to sleep apnea, I was sleep-deprived most of my life...and that led to diagnoses of clinical depression (dysthymia) and ADHD Inattentive Form. With the sleep disorder recognized and treated, my doc and I are weaning me off one of the medications. Down to half the dose so far, and so far, so good.

The story above doesn't strike me as far-fetched at all, sadly.