Snydermann

Last time I drank a bit too much I thought my bathtub was my bed.

billdsd

Most people can't walk at .284 - and note that that was after a fair bit of time before the cops came to her home. She would have been higher at the time of the collision -- probably over .30. I'm wondering how she got the key into the ignition. She's got to be a serious hard core drunk.

Snydermann

Wikipedia says, "Subtract approximately 0.01 every 40 minutes after drinking".

alhedges

Almost *never* in a case like this with blood test evidence. She'll take a guilty plea.

RaleighSport

she already plead not guilty...

unterhausen

yes, most people are incapable of reaching that blood alcohol level. Alcoholics can tolerate a much higher blood alcohol level. Doesn't mean they are any good at driving though.

neg

She may try to argue that she drank after she got home.
After all, she almost struck a raccoon.

mnemia

How long was the intervening time between when the collision occurred and when the blood sample was drawn? If it wasn't long, she'd have had to have been chugging vodka or something.

Or maybe the drinking has something to do with how she could confuse a human being crashing through her windshield with a raccoon, a mailbox, or whatever her final story ended up being.

I'm glad for the child endangerment charges. What kind of mother drives their own children around while drunk off her ass? It's hard for me to comprehend that level of negligence and disregard for safety. If she doesn't even care about her own children enough to not drive them around while plastered, how are we supposed to believe she cares about anyone else on the road? This woman needs to go to jail for a few years and then be banned from driving for life.

Digital_Cowboy

How the bloody hell does a person with her BAC, and the charges that she's facing get OR?

Digital_Cowboy

Don't forget that there was that "wonderful" lawyer who while driving (drunk) with his small son in the car hit and killed a cyclist then stopped picked up the pieces from his car, got back in his car and drove off leaving the cyclist in the road to die, his "defense" for leaving the scene was that he didn't want his 5yr old son to see a dead body.

Seanholio

First and foremost, I hope this woman receives the greatest possible sentence for her criminal acts after she is found guilty, and her life is plagued with nightmares for what she has done.

That aside, pre-trial imprisonment is intended to ensure the attendance of the accused on their day in court. I have to guess that the judge in this case views her as a low flight risk, and may be erring on the side of caution to avoid any accusations of a conflict of interest. Any mishandling of the case by the courts or the prosecution can result in a technicality that will allow her to appeal successfully, claiming bias on the part of the courts. Personally, I would far rather she spend a few months outside of prison to increase the chances that she will spend years in there later.

RaleighSport

I think she's screwed and I'm not sad, so many contradictory statements, the BAC, the kid's version of events, the windshield/car damage all speak against her and it's not like it's circumstantial, I hope she gets the whole book thrown at her.

BikeLawyer

This article on my webpage has spawned some 50+ comments now, including those trying to defend this drunk driver. 0.284% BAC is a HUGE number - You have to really WORK to get your BAC that high. I wrote a follow up piece on the indictment as well.

I don't know anything about Kelly Cox's background at this point. However, people who are regular drinkers can learn to act in a socially acceptable manner despite very high BAC's. This doesn't mean the physical effects of alcohol aren't there - their brains are still addled, their reflexes are dimmed, their vision is skewed - alcohol effects every sense you need to operate a car and, at a 0.28%, you are completely plastered no matter WHAT kind of social game you are able to play to "look good" for others...

People who are regular drinkers ALSO have the ability to "process" or "eliminate" alcohol faster than non-drinkers. An "average" elimination rate is about 0.015% per hour. So if you are at .10%BAC at 6pm, and are on your way down, the average person would be around 0.085% by 7pm. A regular drinker's body adapts, though, and eliminates the poison quicker - sometimes twice as fast. So THAT person's BAC might be 0.07% at 7pm. What this means is that regular drinkers have to drink MORE than non-drinkers to get that high high BAC...

Kelly Cox has plead "not guilty" but don't read anything into that... all not guilty means is "prove it". It means the prosecutors have to march through the steps, and not screw anything up. I don't think they will here- Judge Henry was highly regarded, well liked and respected. I believe prosecutors here will aggressively pursue their very best case against Kelly Cox...

Stay tuned for this one!

jedde

Update: Defendant wants a change of venue... to southern Ohio. Plus, she may not be competent enough to stand trial. DA is pullin' out all the stops! And how can the fact that she was 3x over the limit for intoxication be withheld from the jury? https://www.news-herald.com/articles/...mode=fullstory

unterhausen

I guess a competent defense attorney has to try to get the BAC thrown out, that would be a real coup. I can't imagine that working though

smasha

i'm also sure they can find a jury of 12 people who haven't voted in a few years... but let her have a trial on the moon, i don't think it'll make a difference.

it seems like her defense attorney is really working hard and earning his money on this one, but i'll be surprised if any of his games keep her out of jail.

billdsd

It's absolutely amazing that she's even fighting this. The evidence against her is overwhelming. She should take whatever plea deal she can get.

I hope that when she's sentenced, the judge gives her the maximum.

smasha

@billdsd - i think most alcoholics have a problem accepting responsibility for anything they've done. i've seen people [alcoholics] get arrested for DUI (one on the way home from a bar!) and swear that they weren't drinking and they had no idea how the alcohol got inside them. no matter what happens, it's not their fault. they're just a victim. this is what many/most alcoholics sincerely believe and how they go through life.

we're all capable of denial, but from what i've seen, alcoholics take it to another realm.

now there's a dad in this story who should've known that his wife was driving the kids around with a BAC high enough to kill a normal person. and presumably he's paying some legal bills here...? i think there's a good chance they're both alcoholics. i don't see how anyone who's not an alcoholic can tolerate that from a wife/mom.

chipcom 

My second wife was an alcoholic...I tolerated it until I didn't...which took about two years. It killed her about 8 years later.

It takes a while to realize that as much as you want to stick by and support someone you love who is an alcoholic, they are not going to change until they finally hit bottom and want to change. Sometimes that never happens.

RobbieTunes

The Plain Dealer soft-pedaled the story, and in doing so, biased potential jurors against the victim.

Child endangerment
Drunk driving
Reckless homicide
Failure to report a crime (like it was an accident)
Obstruction of justice

She would be extremely useful in Afghanistan, detecting IED's.

At least once, anyway.
I can see no other reason to have her around.

Hippiebrian

My Dad died from alchoholism (liver disease) in '84. All alchoholics quit drinking. Some just have to be planted to do so, unfortunately.

Hippiebrian

What really gets me about all this is that people will read these stories and decide cycling is too dangerous for them. I really wish they would print stories this large when someone dies in an auto accident, but that really isn't news, is it? The only time we hear anything about someone dying in a car is when it slows the freeways. Then, no one complains how dangerous it is to drive because they are too upset about the freeway being blocked!

I feel for the family in all this, and I really hope this woman gets the book thrown at her, right between the eyes would be nice...

chipcom 

This happened in a neighboring county and I would have known nothing about it, let alone gotten all these updates, were it not for this thread.

Hippiebrian

Good to know! Sometimes I think I over-react...

chipcom 

you didn't do enough reds.