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SCHOHARIE — Nauman Hussain, the limousine operator convicted earlier this month of 20 counts of manslaughter for his role in the deadly Oct. 6, 2018 crash, was sentenced Wednesday to 5 to 15 years in state prison.
Dozens of family and friends of those killed in the crash sat silently, packed into the third-floor courtroom of the Schoharie County Courthouse, just a few miles from the scene of the wreck, as state Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch handed down the sentence — the maximum allowed under state law.
“I’m familiar with all the facts of this case, and I’m going to render a verdict accordingly,” said Lynch, who last year rejected a plea deal that would have seen Hussain complete community service and receive probation in lieu of prison time for his role in the crash.
Lynch announced the sentence — which Hussain will serve concurrently — after around a dozen family members of those killed read impact statements recounting how their lives have changed since their loved ones were killed, and how they continue to struggle to adjust to life nearly five years later.
Hussain, the operator of Prestige Limousine & Chauffeur Service — the Wilton-based company, owned by his father, which rented the stretched 2001 Ford Excursion SUV, that would later crash after suffering catastrophic brake failure, to a group of 17 friends from the Amsterdam area to attend a birthday celebration in Cooperstown — did not speak during the proceedings.
He sat silently with his head down, handcuffed, wearing bright orange prison garb, as family members spoke for more than an hour.
“I cry everyday. My heart is shattered,” said Donna Rivenburg, whose daughter, Amanda, was one of the 17 passengers who boarded the doomed limousine. “Four years, seven months and 25 days ago,” she recalled.
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All 17 passengers, the vehicle’s driver and two bystanders were killed after the vehicle’s brakes failed as it descended a steep hill on state Route 30, before crossing the intersection of Route 30A at speeds in excess of 100 mph, striking a vehicle in the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store and coming to rest in a culvert.
The crash remains the deadliest automobile wreck in the country in more than a decade.
“We have pictures and memories of her, but I should have her here with us,” Rivenburg said.
Wednesday’s sentencing is the latest emotional chapter in a book not fully written, families of those killed in the wreck said following the hearing.
Several family members of those killed said they would like to see the mechanics at the Mavis Discount Tire repair shop in Saratoga Springs, where the limousine was serviced and illegally inspected in the months prior to the crash, face criminal charges.
Some raised questions about what role Hussain’s father, Shahed, played in the crash and whether his past ties to the FBI as an informant allowed the family to circumvent state and federal vehicle registration and inspection laws that could have prevented the wreck. Shahed Hussain was not in the country at the time of the crash and has never been charged in connection to the incident.
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Sheila McGarvey, whose son Shane McGowan and daughter-in-law Erin McGowan were among the victims, criticized the bureau for working with Shahed Hussain, who agreed to become an informant with the agency in 2001 as a way to escape his own legal trouble.
The FBI provided families of those killed in the crash a briefing about their handling of Shahed Hussain this week, but several have said questions remain about whether he used his connections with the agency to avoid persecution.
“I despise the FBI agents who got in bed with this criminal,” McGarvey said.
Others said they were preparing for the appeal, but remained hopeful that the verdict would remain unchanged.
“Today is the end of a chapter. It’s not totally done, but it’s a good day,” said Jill Richardson Perez, whose son, Matthew Coons, was killed in the crash.
The sentencing comes two weeks after a jury convicted Hussain of second-degree manslaughter following a seven-day trial that was initially expected to last up to six weeks, but almost never happened at all.
Hussain, in 2021, accepted a plea deal to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide that would have seen him escape jail time and instead serve probation and community service.
But Lynch rejected to deal at a sentencing hearing, offering Hussain the option to serve 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison or go to trial.
Lynch, who called the deal “completely disingenuous and unacceptable to this court,” began overseeing the trial after Schoharie County Court Judge George Bartlett III, who approved the plea deal, retired.
“He [Lynch] gave us a voice, and he gave us an opportunity,” said Kevin Cushing, whose son, Patrick, was killed.
Cushing praised Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery’s prosecution of the case, but expressed disappointment in the sentence.
“It works out to about 7 months per lost soul,” he said. “That’s hardly fair and justice.”
Mallery called on around two dozen witnesses during the trial, including several who testified that Hussain was not only aware that the Excursion limo was not properly registered and should have been subjected to rigorous inspections, but intentionally ignored the regulations for more than a year.
Among those that testified was Chad Smith, a state Department of Transportation inspector who pursued Hussain for more than a year in an effort to bring the vehicle into compliance, and ordered the vehicle out-of-service twice in the months prior to the wreck.
An out-of-service sticker that Smith placed on the vehicle’s windshield a month prior to the crash was later discovered in Hussain’s personal vehicle at the time of his arrest in the days following the crash.
Mallery declined to speak with reporters Wednesday, but Fred Rench, a special prosecutor appointed to assist the district attorney, said that Smith’s testimony was key to securing a conviction against Hussain.
“Chad Smith is a hero,” Rench said. “Chad Smith attempted to avoid a tragedy that he did not know was in the making.”
Lee Kindlon, an attorney for Hussain, said he already filed a notice of appeal and plans to complete a bail application to have his client released until the appeal process is completed.
“Now we’re going to work on the appeal as quickly as possible,” he said.
Kindlon, who did not call any witnesses during the trial, attempted to shift the blame for the crash onto the Saratoga Springs’ Mavis repair shop.
Virgil Park, a manager for the repair shop in 2018, testified that he told the limo operator to “burn” the vehicle, but also admitted that Hussain was charged for brake work that was never completed — including the installation of a brake master cylinder and a brake fluid flush — and that he ordered another mechanic, Thomas Klingman, to complete a DMV safety inspection on the vehicle.
Park also admitted that he was not aware that limousines were not subject to DMV inspections and that he did not keep up with safety inspection standards. Klingman, meanwhile, testified that he never performed the inspection and simply passed the vehicle because he felt “pressured” by Park.
“He’s my boss. I’m not looking to get fired,” Klingman said during the trial.
The crash was caused by a ruptured rear brake line that rendered the vehicle’s back brakes inoperable and caused the front brakes to overheat and melt. The master brake cylinder was determined to be working at the time of the wreck.
Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen, earlier this month, said she requested state police send her office material on the repair shop, a sign that a criminal investigation could be underway — welcome news for the families.
“Hopefully, the DA in Saratoga County will go after Mavis and hold them accountable,” said Donna Rivenburg.
Others who spoke during the sentencing hearing did so through tears as they recounted the lives of their loved ones killed.
Among them was Mary Ashton, who described how the crash that killed her son, Michael Ukaj, has torn her family apart.
Ashton described how her son, a U.S. Marine, survived the horrors of war and was only just “beginning to learn to live again” when he was killed. She described how only last week she learned that her son helped save the lives of two Marines who contacted her to tell her how Ukaj was a hero.
“He survived all of these things, only to die stateside because of Nauman Hussain,” she said.
Others described how there will forever be a void in their lives and that the loss of their loved ones is equivalent to a “life sentence.”
“We hold our memories close to our hearts, but you can’t hold a memory, wrap your arms around it and say I love you,” McGarvey said.
Contact reporter Chad Arnold at: [email protected] or by calling 518-395-3120.
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