(AP) An appellate court on Friday denied a request to move the trial of the New Jersey man charged with attacking author Salman Rushdie with a knife in 2022, clearing the way for the trial to move forward in the western New York county where the stabbing occurred.
Hadi Matar’s trial was put on hold days before the scheduled Oct. 15 start of jury selection, pending a decision by the Rochester court. 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 extensive publicity and the lack of an Arab American community in the county whose population is 93% white. District Attorney Jason Schmidt opposed the move.
