Two men charged over a deadly robbery in a Sydney housing commission unit - in which Harriet Wran also played a role - have asked a judge to consider their offences were not "pre-planned".
Michael Lee, 37, and Lloyd Edward Haines, 31, who have pleaded guilty to murdering small-time drug dealer Daniel McNulty in August 2014, appeared at a sentence hearing at the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
Lee's defence submitted there was a "complete absence of pre-planning" before his client stabbed Mr McNulty, so his offending should be placed in the low range of seriousness.
In a handwritten letter to Justice Ian Harrison, Lee explains drugs "had a hold" over him, lawyer Craig Smith said.
Without drugs in his system, Lee's violence towards 48-year-old Mr McNulty would very likely not have happened, he said.
Haines' defence submitted he should be given a lighter sentence than Lee, because he did not deliver the fatal blows to Mr McNulty.
Ertunc Ozen asked the judge to consider Haines' undiagnosed brain injury caused by a fall from a roof when he was 10, his disadvantaged background and his recent commitment to shake his drug addiction.
"He has proven to be able to get off the drugs in a structured environment," Mr Ozen said.
Wran, the 28-year-old daughter of former NSW premier Neville Wran, was Lee's girlfriend when the trio turned up at Mr McNulty's Redfern home in search of an "ice" hit on August 10, 2014.
As Mr McNulty unlocked his front door, Lee had burst through and demanded money and drugs, and the robbery had quickly turned deadly.
Wran, a former drug addict, admitted helping Lee and his friend Haines gain entry to the flat but says she didn't know Lee had a knife and didn't see Mr McNulty being stabbed.
She pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder, robbery in company, and harbouring, maintaining and assisting Lee and was sentenced in July to four years in jail.
She is due for a parole hearing on September 15.
Justice Ian Harrison will sentence Haines and Lee on September 29.
