The breath detector is used based on it’s ability read the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in a person’s system. The limits considered safe around most of the U.S. is 0.08. But what does that mean, exactly?  To understand it better, it helps to know how the breath analyzers work. How is it possible that a person can breathe into a machine and it detect how much they’ve had to drink?

While it is of utmost importance for public safety and individual safety that impaired drivers be taken off the road, it is also important to know how the limit is determined. Blood tests and urine tests are more accurate than a breath test, but those tests are impractical in roadside stops. For this reason, breath analyzer is by far more likely to be used.

When a person consumes alcohol, it gets absorbed by the mouth, throat, stomach, intestines, and bloodstream. Because alcohol is not digested upon absorption, nor is it chemically changed in the bloodstream, when the blood goes through the lungs, some of the alcohol moves across the membranes of the lung’s air sacs. These air sacs (alveoli) allow the alcohol evaporates to be exhaled.

The BAC is based on a ratio of breath alcohol to blood alcohol as 2100:1. So 2100 milliliters(ml) of alveolar air contains the same amount of alcohol as 1 ml of blood. The American Medical Association has determined that a person can become impaired when the blood alcohol level reaches 0.05. A reading of 0.08 indicates that there are 0.08 grams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

There’s quite a math formula that goes into determining how much alcohol a person can consume (based on their body size/weight/type.) To avoid making an error in judgment, make the decision not to drink and drive.

The murder occurred in 2010 when Ramos and another man, Mark Anthony Soliz, broke into the woman’s home in Godley to rob her. What began as burglary, ended in murder.

Initially Ramos was on the road to the death penalty before reaching a plea deal with prosecutors that would give him life without parole instead. This came as a result of a two-county crime spree that left two others dead as well.

Ramos was facing the death penalty in both cases, but agreed to make a deal with Johnson County District Attorney Dale Hanna because it was clear that Soliz was the shooter in both instances. The death penalty was handed over to Soliz while Ramos was given life without parole. Ramos received a second life sentence for the shooting of the Godley grandmother.

According to reports Soliz, a gang member, confessed to having killed Nancy Weatherly in her home. He allegedly laughed when he told his girlfriend about the murder.

“This was a point-blank execution of a woman in her own home,” prosecutor Martin Strahan told the jury during closing arguments Friday morning. “Every bit of evidence points to him — including his own words.”

Ben Davis, Weatherly’s only child, had sat on the front row through the entire two week trial and listened to the testimony about his mother’s death as well as the host of other crimes in which Soliz had participated.

After the verdict was announced, Davis said, “It’s kind of an empty feeling to me.”

This would not be Blackmon’s first DUI arrest.  In October of 2010, he was arrested in Carrollton, Texas at 3:45 a.m. on a DUI complaint while driving to a Dallas Cowboys game.  According to the police radar, he was driving 92 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone when the cops caught up to him.  He was on his way to the game without permission to leave the team per head coach mike Gundy, who suspended him for one game.

Blackmon, who played college football at Oklahoma State, was arrested in nearby Stillwater by the Payne County Sheriff and booked into jail around 10:22 AM.  A spokeswoman for Payne County Jail tells TMZ the charge was aggravated DUI and Blackmon will remain in custody until he sees a judge.

According to Oklahoma law, aggravated DUI applies to drivers with a .15 or higher blood alcohol level.

“I’m embarrassed to be in this position…I look forward to redeeming myself and proving to everybody that this isn’t who I am,” Blackmon said after the incident.  “I’m not this guy.  I’m humbled by this experience and I will grow from it.”

As the fifth-overall pick, Blackmon is expected to receive a contract worth about $20 million if all the terms are met.

To read the original article, click here.

Samson Loynachan, 32, was convicted of murder in the death of Chloe Robinson. Judge Vick read the jury’s decision and Loynachan showed no other emotion other than placing his head in his hands.

Nicole Robinson, the mother of Chloe, was quite emotional and tearfully told Loynachan that his actions had scarred her and her family for life.  “I trusted you with the things that mattered most to me – my children.  You carried my daughter’s casket to her grave site and continued lying to my face.  All anyone ever wanted was the truth, and I guess we’ll never know it.

In Loynachan’s testimony, he tried to defend himself by saying that Chloe must have been injured when he struck her head on the armrest in his vehicle.  He said he was trying to cheer up the child, who was sent home early from day care for being sick and he didn’t realize the armrest had a metal core.

Robinson had just started a new job so she asked  Loynachan  if could pick up Chloe from the child care center.  The child died was dead the next day after emergency surgery was performed to release brain swelling.

Experts disagreed on what was the exact cause of Chloe’s death, but they felt that either a severe blow to the head or severe shaking probably  caused the bleeding in her brain that killed her.   The prosecution presented evidence that indicated  the injury occurred not long after Loynachan picked Chloe up from child care.

Prosecutor Alana Minton said, “This defendant killed an innocent child in a fit of rage during a time that she needed nothing more than to be cared for by a loving parent.  He told lie after lie to authorities while medical personnel tried desperately to save Chloe.  The swiftness in which the jury reached their verdicts indicates they did not believe his many lies.”

Chloe was fussy and feverish, the day care worker said, but she was alert when she left the center with Loynachan.    Prosecutors pointed out that within an hour, Chloe was unconscious with a head injury and also that Loynachan’s hand was bruised and swollen.

Loynachan was portrayed by defense witnesses as a  family man who worked hard at spending time with his children, particularly his daughter, who has a hearing disability.

The jury did not believe Loynachan or his witnesses as they sentenced him to life in prison.

The original article can be read here.