Question:  My wife got stopped for a DUI in Cherokee County and I'm not sure why she tested so high on the breathalyzer. She's a pretty small person in that she's barely five feet tall and she weighs less than 100 pounds.

We went out to dinner and I admit I got pretty drunk and she said she'd drive the car home. The restaurant is in Woodstock and it's about 3 miles from our house. We were drinking wine and I had a few beers. But my wife only drank wine and she had maybe two glasses, that's all. It was red wine because we were at an Italian restaurant in Woodstock and our waiter, who we see all the time, suggested we drink some of the red wine.

My wife ate a small salad and an entrée that wasn't very large, a small ziti dish. Again, I thought I had a bit too much to drink and I asked her if she'd drive home and she said sure, because she only had two glasses of wine. To be totally honest, the glasses were not small, but our dinner took a while to eat so it's not like she guzzled the wine.

On our way home we got pulled over by a Cherokee county deputy sheriff who said my wife failed to maintain her lane. He said she swerved twice. I was fairly buzzed and really don't remember much of what happened.

Anyway, the Cherokee cop finally had her do some tests on the side of the road, you know the field sobriety tests and then he arrested her because she almost fell over.

At the jail she took the breath test and she blew a .174. We can't believe that she blew such a high number and don't know how she was that drunk. So now we're looking for a great Cherokee County DUI lawyer. I understand those tests are pretty accurate and wanted to know if being a small woman could impact her test results?

Could being a lady be a defense in some way to a DUI charge?

D.Z. in Cherokee County, GA

Answer:  That your wife is a petite woman can certainly influence her ability to absorb and tolerate alcohol. And it may very well account for her poor performance on the field sobriety tests and on the breathalyzer.

The enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the stomach is called dehydrogenase, and women have less of it than men. That can contribute to higher blood-alcohol concentrations in women than in men even if they have consumed the same amount of alcohol, or even if the man has consumed more alcohol than the woman.

Another possible explanation is hormone levels, which affect the body's ability to process alcohol. Because of this, many women will experience faster intoxication right before menstruation.

Women also generally have a higher percentage of body fat and a lower percentage of water. And the less a person weighs, the more they will be affected by a given amount of alcohol.

Got a DUI in Cherokee County, call us now at 678-215-4106.