An autopsy report shows that musician Carter Albrecht was intoxicated at more than three times the legal driving limit when he was fatally shot as he tried to kick in the back door of his girlfriend's next-door neighbor.

The toxicology tests found that Mr. Albrecht, who played guitar and keyboard for the bands Sorta and Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, had an alcohol level of 0.29 in his blood. The legal limit for driving is 0.08.

The tests didn't find any illegal substances in his system. Additional tests will look for signs of the anti-smoking drug Chantix; friends and family have blamed his behavior in part on that drug.

"He was extremely intoxicated," said Sgt. Larry Lewis, a homicide unit supervisor. "You'd have to be concerned about whether he was aware of his surroundings."

Mr. Albrecht, 34, died when he was shot in the head Sept. 3 while attempting to break into a home on Santa Clara Drive in the White Rock Lake area. Police have said the neighbor shot one time at the top of the door to scare him away but instead struck the 6-foot-4 musician.

The additional toxicology tests are being conducted because some people, such as his girlfriend, believe that he flew into a rage as a result of side effects from Chantix. They say Mr. Albrecht and his girlfriend were taking it to quit smoking. Police said they will await the results of those additional tests before the case is taken before a grand jury.

The shooter probably won't be indicted because state law allows Texans to use deadly force to prevent someone from breaking into their homes at night. A new law, dubbed the Castle Law, also removes any obligation for a crime victim to retreat before responding with deadly force when faced with an intruder in his or her home, vehicle or business.

Ryann Rathbone, Mr. Albrecht's girlfriend, said she was not surprised by the amount of alcohol in his system because he had had three drinks and two shots that night.

She remains convinced that his rage was fueled by Chantix, a prescription medicine that works by blocking nicotine from attaching to the brain receptors that produce feelings of pleasure.

The couple had been taking the drug for about a week before he died, and Ms. Rathbone has said that they were having vivid sleep experiences that users call "Chantix dreams."

"I know that's not what made him act out," she said of the alcohol. "He's drank a lot more than that before in a shorter period of time. It was not unusual for him to have that much ."

The makers of Chantix have said clinical studies don't suggest a causal relationship between Chantix use and rage.

Most drugs bear warnings against taking them with alcohol.

Judith Albrecht, the musician's mother, declined to comment on the autopsy's findings but said, "It doesn't change the way he touched people or the way he loved others or our love for him."

The events that led to Mr. Albrecht's death began early on Sept. 3, when Ms. Rathbone met Mr. Albrecht at a bar on Greenville Avenue. He had taken a dose of the drug just before going to the bar and didn't seem drunk when she got there, she said.

Ms. Rathbone has said that as they left the bar shortly after 2 a.m., Mr. Albrecht began acting strange and quoting a book about the oppression of Jews called Constantine's Sword, which he had recently been reading.

She has said they were home only a short time when he spun out of controland wanted to leave, but she didn't want him to drive.

That's when he began to hit her, she said. She doesn't think he realized he was hurting her and said it was as if he were in a dream. Mr. Albrecht chased Ms. Rathbone outside, and she ran back in, locking him out, the police report said.

Mr. Albrecht then went to the back of the neighbor's home and started banging on the door, where he was fatally shot.

The description of Mr. Albrecht's behavior is "very consistent with that level of alcohol" in someone who is a casual drinker, said Michael Nicar, a toxicologist with the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

How that amount of alcohol in the bloodstream affects a person "depends on the amount that they drink normally," Dr. Nicar said. Someone who rarely drinks alcohol would probably need immediate medical attention and could even die. A heavy drinker could be "functioning but have a degree of impairment," he said.

But a casual drinker – as friends have described Mr. Albrecht – would be "falling down drunk," probably extremely confused and susceptible to bouts of rage. The person would also probably have impaired vision and judgment, Dr. Nicar said.

For Ms. Rathbone, the death of Mr. Albrecht has been devastating. She can't stand to live in the home where she and the musician had talked about making their future together, and she can't bear to see the neighbors.

She's currently living in a relative's guest house.

"It's been really horrible," she said. "I'm just trying to find a place to live."