The case of a limousine company operator accused in a crash that killed 20 people out celebrating birthdays in upstate New York nearly five years ago appears headed to jury deliberations much faster than expected.
Nauman Hussain, operator of Prestige Limousine, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in the Schoharie crash that killed 17 friends and family members in the limo. They were all between the ages of 24 and 34. The limo driver also died, as did two bystanders, when the SUV's brakes failed to stop on a downhill stretch of road on Oct. 6, 2018, blew through an intersection and crashed outside a small country store.
The trial had been expected to last as long as six weeks, but the jury heard just six days of witness testimony before prosecutors rested their case, according to The Times Union. The defense also rested its case without calling a witness after the judge refused to dismiss the charges. He also rejected a deal that would've spared Hussain prison.
Hussain was portrayed by prosecutors as directly responsible for the deaths, while his defense argued he was simply in the dark about mechanical problems likely to blame for the wreck.
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During opening statements earlier this month, special prosecutor Frederick Rench said Hussain intentionally failed to follow regulations for maintaining the 2001 Ford Excursion stretch SUV, which was loaded with friends heading to a brewery when it spun out of control on a hill and crashed into a parked car, trees and an embankment.
Hussain did not have the authority to operate his limo business, which was placed out of service multiple times before the tragedy, Rench said. The vehicle's aging brakes, he said, had not been replaced.
“Nauman Hussain never followed any regulations,” Rench said, pointing to Hussain who was looking down at a table in front of him. “Nauman Hussain was completely aware of the unjustifiable risk that he alone had created and that he alone consciously disregarded.”
Defense lawyer Lee Kindlon told the jury Hussain was not to blame.
Hussain, then in his 20s, was inexperienced in running a business and relied on professionals to make sure things were done properly, Kindlon said.
He blamed the problems with the vehicle on the shop Hussain used for repair work, Mavis Discount Tires.
“The accident was caused by the fraud and failure of Mavis to fix the breaks, and the incompetence of the state of New York to uncover their misconduct,” Kindlon told the jury. “Finding a scapegoat condemning the least powerful person involved and declaring victory is not justice.”
Lawyers for Mavis Discount Tires, which is not on trial but is being sued by the families of the victims, have denied that the repair shop is at fault.
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Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
