Being intoxicated is NO excuse for cold blooded murder. Having worked as a police officer for 25 years it saddens me to see how lawyers will twist the truth to make their clients the victim in these situations. Officer Niemi died while doing his duty and Ramirez killed him to keep from going back to jail. It is as simple as that. Ramirez would have shot him even if he had been sober. It just shows how low lawyers will go to get the "shadow of a doubt" rule in.