A French bartender was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday after serving 56 shots to a customer who died the next day.
The customer, 56-year-old Renaud Prudhomme, downed the alcohol in October 2014 in an attempt to beat the establishment's record of 55 shots, which bartender Gilles Crepin says he kept written on a board in Le Starter, a bar in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand. A lawyer representing Prudhomme's daughter contends Crepin encouraged the dangerous stunt, and should be responsible for the consequences, reports Agence France-Presse.
Prudhomme proceeded to down the first 30 shots of alcohol in about one minute, ultimately drinking a liter of booze, reports The Telegraph.
Following the drinking contest, Prudhomme's daughter escorted him home, but had to take the inebriated man to a hospital when he went into cardiac arrest. He died the next day.
The court handed Crepin a four-month suspended sentence, and banned him from working in a bar for a year. His lawyer, Renaud Portejoie, told the BBC they intend to appeal the ruling.
"It's a decision guided by emotion and the unconscious desire to set an example," Portejoie said. "We can't ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates."
French Bartender Convicted Of Manslaughter After Man Drinks 56 Shots, Dies