Five Idaho inmates are blaming alcohol for the crimes that put them in prison and are suing some of the nation’s top liquor and wine companies for $1 billion.

Keith Allen Brown, Steven Thompson, Woodrow Grant, Cory Baugh and Jeremy Brown all claim that alcohol led them to their crimes and they should have been warned of the beverages’ addictive nature.

“If I was not an alcoholic, the shooting would never have happened,” Jeremy Brown said in his affidavit. Brown, 34, is serving a 20- to 30-year sentence for a 2001 shooting that seriously injured a man.

The plaintiffs’ crimes range from manslaughter to grand theft. They are currently serving time at Idaho’s Kuna facility.
Their lawsuit, filed in Boise’s U.S. District Court last month, targets eight defendants, including Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Miller Brewing and the owner of Jim Beam whiskey, American Brands. The inmates claim the companies are responsible for their crimes and should have put warning labels on their products.