SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The jury heard closing arguments in the criminal trial of Nauman Hussain, related to the 2018 Schoharie limo crash that killed 20 people. But before they began, Judge Peter Lynch denied defense attorney Lee Kindlon’s request to add a lesser-included charge of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, for the jury to consider during their deliberations.

During closing arguments, Kindlon attempted to hammer in a point he’s made throughout the trial, that Mavis Discount Tire is the real party at fault; at one point calling the former manager of the Saratoga location, Virgil Park, “a self-serving criminal.”

Kindlon told the jury that Hussain couldn’t have known Mavis lied about the work done on the 2001 Ford Excursion limousine or forsee the fatal crash. He used a PowerPoint to compare pictures from Brian Chase’s report on the crash to the invoices from Mavis showing work that was not done on the limo, despite that work being listed on corporate documents.

f the crash as catastrophic brake failure from a lack of proper inspection, maintenance and repair. Kindlon said that failure lies on Mavis and not on Hussain, who was led to believe that work and the proper inspection had been done. In closing, he told the jury, “State police arrested the wrong man.”

Special District Attorney, Fred Rench, countered much of Kindlon’s arguments during his closing arguments. Rench said the actions of mechanics at Mavis did not prevent Hussain from following NYS Department of Transportation regulations.

Rench said Hussain chose to participate in a highly regulated industry and chose not to follow those regulations. He walked the jury through different testimony and pieces of evidence seen in the trial that prove Hussain was operating a transportation business without DOT authority.

Similar to Kindlon, Rench walked the jury through a timeline of events, with testimony, leading to the crash and focused specifically on DOT violation notices in 2018.

He argued Hussain’s inaction and disregard of DOT regulations created a substantial and unjustifiable risk that led to the crash.

Jury deliberations began shortly before 3:30 p.m. on May 16, 2023. Kindlon, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse during the lunch break, said there’s no indication of how long deliberations could take. He said he and Hussain, his client, are nervous ahead of the end of this trial.