We’re now in the toxicology report window of the Steve McNair shooting investigation, and while it’s pretty clear Sahel Kazemi shot McNair before turning the gun on herself, it’s time to get a sense of what state both were in at the time.

(Kazemi, with the drug of choice.)

As for what state that actually was, it doesn’t look too great. As we reported a couple weeks ago, McNair was sleeping when Kazemi shot him to death. Based on blood tests that just came back today, he was even more incapacitated than that.

The TENNESSEAN has just reported that McNair’s blood alcohol level was quite high when he died:

Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair’s blood-alcohol limit when he was shot was twice what Tennessee considers too drunk to drive, the state’s assistant medical examiner said on Monday.

[Dr. Feng] Li said that McNair’s blood alcohol level was around .16.

Of course, there’s no criminal behavior on McNair’s part here; he wasn’t driving or anything. But considering how high that BAC is and the fact that he was reportedly asleep at the time, it’s pretty easy to deduce that McNair was, in fact, passed out drunk.

That makes sense, unfortunately.  The sound of a gun being cocked seems like the kind of thing that could roust anybody from sleep with a mortal immediacy. Passed out drunk, though, and a tiger could roar into the person’s ear to no effect.

As for Kazemi, could this have been a similarly drunken crime of passion, the ultimate blacked-out mistake? Um, no, not quite:

Sahel “Jenni” Kazemi, the 20-year old woman who shot McNair and then herself, had a small amount of marijuana in her system, Dr. Feng Li said.

Kazemi had no alcohol in her system, he said.

One sober, angry young woman with a gun. The object of her ire on a nearby couch without a prayer of waking up that night. For maybe the first time ever, the story’s starting to make sense.