SCHOHARIE – The jury in the Schoharie limo crash trial of Nauman Hussain began hearing closing arguments by the prosecution and the defense Tuesday morning.
After the summations are completed, state Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch will give the jurors instructions on the law. After, deliberations can begin.
Before the jurors were called in for the morning, Lynch denied a request by Hussain’s attorney Lee Kindlon to add a third, lesser charge of reckless endangerment to the counts the jury considers.
A timeline of events surrounding the Schoharie limo crash
Hussain, 33, was indicted in April 2019 on charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, although Lynch has pointed out to the jury that the two charges are mutually exclusive under the law, so Hussain can only be found not guilty of both or guilty of one or the other.
The manslaughter count carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Oct. 6, 2018 crash in a parking lot next to the Apple Barrel Country Store came in the midst of the region’s fall tourist season. The limousine was carrying 17 passengers many from Amsterdam to a party at Brewery Ommegang outside Cooperstown when the brakes failed on a steep section of Route 30 in Schoharie. The out-of-control super-stretch Ford Excursion SUV-style limousine descended the hill and slammed into the parking lot. Two bystanders were killed in the parking lot and all of the passengers and the driver died when the limousine slammed into a ditch.
Investigators said the vehicle’s brakes failed.
The crash remains the USA’s deadly highway wreck in over a decade.
On Monday, a week after testimony started, Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery rested her case. It focused on the warnings Hussain received about the precarious nature of the limousine he put on…
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