In 2005, 62-year-old graduate student Nadia Shaheen at Murray State University in Kentucky was slain in a hit-and-run and left in a ditch. Burgess Harrison Yonts was convicted of wanton murder and drunken driving in her death, and sentenced to twenty years. That would normally be the end of the story, except that Yonts père was a state legislator, and prevailed on then-Governor Ernie Fletcher (later indicted on charges of conspiracy and official misconduct) to commute his son's sentence to eight years before parole.
The story took another turn when Shaheen's estate sued Yonts, the university, and a local fraternity at which Yonts had allegedly been drinking for wrongful death. As many as sixty-two brothers in the fraternity were also named individually. The claim rested on so-called "dramshop laws," which provide that those who serve alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person are liable for torts their customers drunkenly commit. While more often brought to bear against bars (a.k.a "dramshops," in olde-tyme speech), the law is equally applicable to a wet social function such a fraternity party.
Since the suit was filed, the Lambda Chi Alpha has operated under a cloud of suspicion, and all involved breathed a sigh a relief when U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell dismissed all claims against the fraternity, concluding that "Yonts consumed his own alcohol at various locations throughout the evening," and "was not served alcohol at the fraternity chapter." The Lambda Chi's former alumni advisor Dan Patterson thought the suit "was nothing more than . . . trolling for dollars by local attorneys," while the current alumni advisor conveyed sympathies to the family.
Yonts remains incarcerated, and does not seem to take responsibility for the murder. He claims not to remember the events of the evening, and allows only that he made a "poor decision" in drinking and driving. To put it mildly. His father, meanwhile, has staunchly maintained his son's innocence, importuning fellow legislators to lobby for clemency for his son. The lawsuit continues against Yonts, who may eventually find himself bankrupted as well as locked up.
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