Nauman Hussain: Limo business owner to go on trial as car crash killed 20 people after brakes failed
SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK: The owner of a New York limousine business, whose car wrecked when its brakes did not work, killing 20, will go on trial in May after the judge rejected his prior plea agreement. Nauman Hussain operated an unauthorized limousine service out of a motel that belonged to his family in the hamlet of Wilton, which is 40 miles north of Albany.
A group of friends leased a limo on October 6, 2018, to celebrate one of the friend's 30th birthday. Just before getting in, one of the friends texted her sister to complain about the vehicle's "terrible condition." At around 2 pm, the limo's brakes failed at 60 mph, causing it to run over an intersection close to Schoharie and smash into a ditch next to the Apple Barrel Country Store.
READ MORE
Joshua Goncalves-Radding: NY man, 20, indicted for crashing vehicle and killing 4 students in 2022
Who is Nauman Hussain?
The former owner of Prestige Limousine, Hussain, was initially charged with 20 counts of criminally negligent murder and 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the accident, which was the deadliest American transportation disaster in 10 years. Two onlookers in the parking lot, 17 passengers, and the driver were all killed. Among them were four sisters and their husbands. Hussain agreed to a plea deal in September 2021 that included five years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service, which the victims' families believed to be an excruciatingly lenient sentence. Justice Peter Lynch of the state Supreme Court invalidated the plea agreement in August 2022 and ordered Hussain to go to trial.
When will the trial happen?
The trial will commence on May 1, despite Lee Kindlon, Hussain's attorney, pleading for a week-long delay. Kindlon's colleague, Joe Tacopina, is working on Donald Trump's defense in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. The judge turned down the appeal. On Monday, the Schoharie County district attorney, Susan Mallery, Hussain's attorneys, and Lynch all concurred that the trial would require a pool of 1,500 potential jurors. This number represents 5% of Schoharie County's population and highlights the challenge of finding jurors in the remote area who have not been impacted by the crash in any way, as per Daily Mail.
What did Hussain's attorney say?
Kindlon, Hussain's attorney, said to Lynch that "I think finding a jury is going to be difficult." The attorneys anticipate questioning 90 potential jurors each day as they attempt to assemble a panel of 12 jurors to determine whether Hussain was accountable for the country's greatest transportation tragedy in over ten years. According to the Times Union, on Monday, Mallery informed the judge that she would need to utilize as many as 500 subpoenas to compile her case.
'Sketchy business and criminal past'
In a 900-page dossier of Hussain that she presented, Mallery describes the 'bad acts' that Hussain has previously committed and urges the judge to permit her to include them at trial. Lynch will decide in the next few weeks. According to the newspaper, Hussain had more than 60 run-ins with the authorities, including a 2014 incident in which he and his brother Haris were accused of mimicking one another during a traffic stop and receiving parking citations. Kindlon and his legal team are challenging Lynch's first choice to cancel the plea agreement. Hussain's father, Shahed Hussain, a longtime FBI anti-terrorism source with what the Times Union called a "sketchy business and criminal past," has complicated the case.
Reports suggest that concerns have been raised about whether the FBI's Albany office encouraged law enforcement to ignore the limo businesses in an effort to protect their source. Shahed Hussain had returned to Pakistan just before the accident, and he hasn't been seen since. Both the state Department of Transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicles have faced harsh criticism for permitting the limousine to continue operating on the road.