Nauman Hussain, right, waits with his attorneys during a proceeding in Schoharie County court Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Schoharie, N.Y. A judge rejected a plea agreement that would have meant no prison time for Hussain, the operator of a limousine company involved in a crash that killed 20 people in upstate New York, drawing applause and tears from victims’ relatives who packed the court. Photo: Hans Pennink/AP
A New York trial court judge didn’t overreach when he tossed a negotiated plea deal that would have allowed the operator of a limousine company to avoid jail time from the 2018 Schoharie crash that resulted in the deaths of 20 people, a midlevel appeals court in Albany—with one strongly worded dissent—said.
The 4-1 majority opinion, written by Appellate Division, Third Department Justice Andrew Ceresia, said Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch, who inherited the case upon the retirement of another judge, “necessarily exercised his discretion and judgment,” and “was under no obligation to merely ‘rubber stamp’ the probation sentence.”
