Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt
A trial date for the suspect accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie has been set.
County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said County Court Judge David Foley scheduled jury selection for the trial of Hadi Matar to begin January 8. This came Foley denied a motion filed by the defense to invalidate the People’s Certificate of Compliance. This certificate is needed to move forward with a trial.
Matar is accused of attacking Rushdie on August 12 just before the author was to give a lecture at Chautauqua Institution. In the attack Rushdie was stabbed a dozen times all over his body, including his right eye, which he no longer can use.
Once the trial begins, Rushdie is expected to appear in Chautauqua County Court on behalf of the prosecution.
Schmidt said jury selection could take up to two weeks. Once the jury is selected, he is expecting the trial to last between 10 and 14 days.
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