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Bartender guilty of manslaughter; poured 56 shots for patron

The conviction came with a suspended sentence and a year-long ban on bartending.

By Ed Adamczyk

CLAREMONT-FERRAND , France, May 28 (UPI) -- A French bartender, who poured 56 shots of liquor for a customer attempting to break a record but instead died, was convicted of manslaughter.

Gilles Crespin, 47, barman at Le Starter in the central France city of Claremont-Ferrand, was arrested and charged with manslaughter in October 2014 after patron Renaud Prudhomme, 56, pursued the record of most shots drunk in one sitting at the bar.

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Crespin, who attempted the record in the company of his daughter and friends, was hospitalized and died the following day. Prudhomme was charged with a "clearly deliberate violation of safety and prudence," and admitted in court he encouraged Prudhomme's drinking, using a chalkboard as a scoreboard to count the number of shots consumed. Crespin was convicted, given a suspended sentence and banned from bartending for a year.

In court, Crsopin's lawyer noted Prudhomme's existing respiratory and alcohol abuse problems, saying, "We can't ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates."

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