SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — A judge rejected a plea agreement that would have meant no prison time for the operator of a limousine company involved in a crash that…
State Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch, who was not presiding over the case when the deal was reached a year ago in Hussain’s case, called the agreement “fundamentally flawed.”We deliver the local news you need in these turbulent times on weekdays at 3 p.m.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc.
Kevin Cushing, who lost his son Patrick in the crash, said the families “have a hope for a bit of justice to be served in the future, where we didn’t have any justice served in the past.”Hussain, who operated Prestige Limousine, had been charged with 20 counts each of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in what was the deadliest U.S. transportation disaster in a decade.
To the judge, Hussain’s actions showed he knew the risk of putting the limousine on the road the day of the crash, and a guilty plea to only criminally negligent homicide does not reflect that. Second-degree manslaughter charges are filed when a defendant is accused of being aware of the risk of death and disregarding it. Lynch called the deal “completely disingenuous and unacceptable to this court.
Attorneys for Hussain say he tried to maintain the limousine and relied on what he was told by state officials and a repair shop that inspected it.
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