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Limo company operator sentenced to 5 to 15 years for manslaughter in crash that killed 20

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Nauman Hussain was sentenced to five to 15 years for manslaughter in a 2018 limousine crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.

A limousine company operator was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison Wednesday in connection to a 2018 crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.

Nauman Hussain was found guilty of 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter earlier this month.

Hussain was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for each count of second-degree manslaughter, however, the terms will run concurrently for a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in 2021, but the case went to trial after a judge threw out a plea deal reached with Schoharie County prosecutors last fall that would have spared him a prison sentence.

PHOTO: Nauman Hussain, who ran the limousine company involved in the 2018 crash that killed 20 people, walks outside during a lunch break in a new trial in Schoharie, N.Y., May 1, 2023.
Nauman Hussain, who ran the limousine company involved in the 2018 crash that killed 20 people, walks outside during a lunch break in a new trial in Schoharie, N.Y., May 1, 2023.
Hans Pennink/AP, FILE

The limousine was driving down a stretch of road when it barreled through an intersection and crashed into a parked Toyota Highlander in the town of Schoharie, about 40 miles west of Albany. All 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians were killed in the crash.

Hussain was in charge of day-to-day operations for the company, Prestige Limousine, when a group celebrating a 30th birthday party rented a stretch Ford Excursion SUV on Oct. 6, 2018.

MORE: Limo company operator found guilty of manslaughter stemming from crash that killed 20

The limo had failed an inspection by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles one month before the deadly crash and the driver did not have the appropriate driver's license to be operating the vehicle, officials said at the time.

A report by National Transportation Safety Board investigators in 2020 found that one of the brakes was not operational.

PHOTO: This handout photograph provided courtesy of Albany Times Union shows distraught family members taking in the scene one day after an accident that left 20 people dead in Schoharie, N.Y., on Oct. 7, 2018.
This handout photograph provided courtesy of Albany Times Union shows distraught family members taking in the scene one day after an accident that left 20 people dead in Schoharie, N.Y., on Oct. 7, 2018.
Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

After he was found guilty, Hussain's lawyer said they plan to appeal the verdict.

"He chose profit over people," prosecutors said at the sentencing hearing. Before sentencing, his lawyer said Hussain would not speak due to the pending appeal.

MORE: 20 people killed in 'horrific' limousine crash in upstate New York, authorities say

Prosecutors said Hussain made the conscious decision not to repair the car ahead of the crash and failed to get a second inspection before putting it back on the road.

The defense asked for the mercy of the court ahead of the sentencing.

The incident was the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. since 2009.

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