The arraignment Friday of Tanveer Hussain, 25, of Kashmir, India, in Essex County Court resulted in a plodding, two-plus hour process of back-and-forth, pauses and repeated statements. This was because a Kashmiri interpreter via video teleconference translated everything that was said by Hussain as well as the presiding judge and attorneys.

In the Essex County Courthouse, Justice Keith Bruno said he anticipates it will be a couple of months before a conference date is held for defense and prosecution lawyers in the case. Bruno read the charges against Hussain, which include sexual contact with a person less than 13 years old by an actor 21 or older, a class D felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. If Hussain is convicted of the sexual abuse charge, the more serious of the two, he could face a maximum of seven years in prison.

Hussain was arrested March 1, four days after he competed in the World Snowshoe Championships in Saranac Lake. Village police say he kissed and groped the breast of a 12-year-old Saranac Lake girl on Feb. 27, an accusation he denies.

“I’m looking forward to having a jury decide this case,” Brian Barrett of Lake Placid, Hussain’s court-appointed lawyer, said after the arraignment. “Let’s bring the evidence to trial.”

Tanveer Hussain, left, walks into the St. Armand Town Hall in Bloomingdale in March with his attorney, Brian Barrett of Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

Bruno, who released Hussain on the same bail terms he entered with, then granted Hussain’s defense team 45 days to serve and file demands upon the Essex County district attorney’s office, by Oct. 2. The DA’s office will have until Oct. 17 to respond.

Both pairs of attorneys met with Bruno for 15 minutes before the arraignment began.

At the beginning of the proceeding, Bruno introduced through a Skype broadcast Mohamed Junaid, a New York City-based native speaker of Kashmiri, Hussain’s native language.

The monitor on which Junaid appeared was located on the left side of the courtroom a few yards away from Hussain and Barrett.

Per Junaid’s request, Bruno instructed lawyers to speak slowly and in sentence fragments so Junaid could translate as accurately as possible for Hussain. Junaid then translated Hussain’s responses back to the courtroom.

Tanveer Hussain of India races in the World Snowshoe Championships Feb. 25 in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“Some of these legal terms are not easily translatable to Kashmiri,” Junaid, a 36-year-old native speaker of the language, told the courtroom.

Junaid, who was appointed by the state’s Office of Court Administration, said he’d never translated for a legal proceeding before, but he added that he translated English to Kashmiri and vice versa for two years as part of doctorate research in India. Bruno said the Office of Court Administration found Junaid through agencies located in the New York City area.

Barrett objected to Junaid as interpreter, saying case law dictates a court interpreter needs to have specific certifications Junaid doesn’t possess. Bruno said it was up to the court’s discretion and said he was satisfied with Junaid’s credentials. Hussain himself acknowledged Junaid spoke Kashmiri.

“I have some serious concerns about the interpretation today,” Barrett said. “And hopefully we can find a better interpreter for trial.”

Hussain’s defense team maintained their request to permit Hussain and Barrett to travel to New York City to prepare for the trial. Barrett said this is necessary because an attorney from the Kashmiri community there, Zouhoor Wani, has been Barrett’s only medium of communication with Hussain. Barrett added that Wani also offered to house Hussain.

“He’s a flight risk,” Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague said after the arraignment. “He has zero ties to this community.”

Hussain, wearing a blue and white checkered dress shirt, khakis and sporting long sideburns and a light beard, was composed and concentrated throughout the hearing. He nodded in the direction of Barrett after Junaid translated all three of his not-guilty pleas.

Barrett also stressed how his team feels its unfair how long Hussain has stayed with Rich Shapiro and Lindy Ellis, the Saranac Lake couple who bailed him out in March and have housed him since.

Barrett mentioned that Hussain was offered a plea deal by the DA’s office “that would have returned Tanveer to India long ago,” but Hussain has made it clear he wants to fight the charges. Bruno said his court had no previous knowledge of discussion between the defense and district attorneys.

“He hasn’t been around anyone that can speak his language,” Barrett said. “I have to imagine that’s extremely isolating. He would be in a better position to speak to a lawyer who speaks his own language and can relay that back to me.”

Bruno decided to continue Hussain’s bail at $5,000 cash and continue to restrict him to Essex and Franklin counties.

Barrett also told the court that Hussain’s accuser made unsolicited contact through social media to him. He later clarified that meant she followed him on Twitter.

Shapiro and Ellis were two of about a dozen people in attendance, as well as Hussain’s English tutors through Literacy Volunteers of Essex and Franklin Counties, Chuck and Helen Cairns of Ray Brook.

Chuck Cairns said he’s tutored Hussain about 30 times in hour-long sessions.

“He’s getting there” in understanding English, Chuck Cairns said. “He watches the occasional Terminator [movie] to pick up some of the action.”