ROCHESTER, NY– An appeals court on Friday rejected a request to move the trial of the New Jersey man accused of attacking writer Salman Rushdie with a knife to 2022, paving the way for the trial to move forward in the Western Province of New York, where the stabbing took place.
Hadi Matar’s trial was suspended several days before the scheduled start of jury selection on October 15, pending a decision from the court in Rochester. A new trial date was not immediately set.
Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, argued that Matar would not receive a fair trial in Chautauqua County because of the extensive publicity and the lack of an Arab-American community in the county, whose population is 93% white. District Attorney Jason Schmidt opposed the measure.
Matar, 26, is accused of running onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie was about to speak and stabbing him more than a dozen times until he was overpowered by spectators.
The author of “Satanic Verses” was seriously injured, including blindness in one eye. The event’s moderator, Henry Reese, was also injured.
Matar has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault.
He has also pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.