Current:Home > MyTrial of man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie may be delayed until author’s memoir is published-LoTradeCoin
Trial of man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie may be delayed until author’s memoir is published
View Date:2024-12-23 21:07:00
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Salman Rushdie’s plans to publish a book about a 2022 attempt on his life may delay the trial of his alleged attacker, which is scheduled to begin next week, attorneys said Tuesday.
Hadi Matar, the man charged with repeatedly stabbing Rushdie as the author was being introduced for a lecture, is entitled to the manuscript and related material as part of his trial preparation, Chautauqua County Judge David Foley said during a pretrial conference.
Foley gave Matar and his attorney until Wednesday to decide if they want to delay the trial until they have the book in hand, either in advance from the publisher or once it has been released in April. Defense attorney Nathaniel Barone said after court that he favored a delay but would consult with Matar.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 8.
“It’s not just the book,” Barone said. “Every little note Rushdie wrote down, I get, I’m entitled to. Every discussion, every recording, anything he did in regard to this book.”
Rushdie, who was left blinded in his right eye and with a damaged left hand in the August 2022 attack, announced in October that he had written about the attack in a memoir: “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which is available for pre-order. Trial preparation was already well under way when the attorneys involved in the case learned about the book.
District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Rushdie’s representatives had declined the prosecutor’s request for a copy of the manuscript, citing intellectual property rights. Schmidt downplayed the relevance of the book at the upcoming trial, given that the attack was witnessed by a large, live audience and Rushdie himself could testify.
“There were recordings of it,” Schmidt said of the assault.
Matar, 26, of New Jersey has been held without bail since his arrest immediately after Rushdie was stabbed in front of a stunned audience at the Chautauqua Institution, a summer arts and education retreat in western New York.
Schmidt has said Matar was on a “mission to kill Mr. Rushdie” when he rushed from the audience to the stage and stabbed him more than a dozen times until being subdued by onlookers.
A motive for the attack was not disclosed. Matar, in a jailhouse interview with The New York Post after his arrest, praised late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and said Rushdie “attacked Islam.”
Rushdie, 75, spent years in hiding after Khomeini issued a 1989 edict, a fatwa, calling for his death after publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Over the past two decades, Rushdie has traveled freely.
Matar was born in the U.S. but holds dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born. His mother has said that her son changed, becoming withdrawn and moody, after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018.
veryGood! (9199)
Related
- A Pipeline Runs Through It
- Psych exams ordered for mother of boy found dead in suitcase in southern Indiana
- How Travis Kelce Celebrated Lifetime MVP Jason Kelce For National Siblings Day
- Inter Miami bounced by Monterrey from CONCACAF Champions Cup. What's next for Messi?
- What is ‘Doge’? Explaining the meme and cryptocurrency after Elon Musk's appointment to D.O.G.E.
- Save up to 54% on Samsonite’s Chic & Durable Carry-Ons, Luggage Sets, Duffels, Toiletry Bags & More
- Severe weather takes aim at parts of the Ohio Valley after battering the South
- Scientists are grasping at straws while trying to protect infant corals from hungry fish
- Surfer Bethany Hamilton Makes Masked Singer Debut After 3-Year-Old Nephew’s Tragic Death
- Masters Par 3 Contest coverage: Leaderboard, highlights from Rickie Fowler’s win
Ranking
- 'Yellowstone's powerful opening: What happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton?
- How Travis Kelce Celebrated Lifetime MVP Jason Kelce For National Siblings Day
- 2 Nigerian brothers plead guilty to sexual extortion after death of Michigan teen
- Exclusive: How Barbara Walters broke the rules and changed the world for women and TV
- 32 things we learned in NFL Week 10: Who will challenge for NFC throne?
- Man gets 7½ years for 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin anti-abortion office
- Iowa governor signs bill that gives state authority to arrest and deport some migrants
- Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024?
Recommendation
-
Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
-
Michael Bublé, Jason Derulo talk 'Spicy Margarita' music video and their Vegas residences
-
Kirsten Dunst says 5-year-old son helped her run lines for 'Civil War': 'No dark dialogue!'
-
What we know about Barbara Walters, from her notorious pal to the 'SNL' nickname she hated
-
North Carolina offers schools $1 million to help take students on field trips
-
A major UK report says trans children are being let down by toxic debate and lack of evidence
-
Iowa will retire Caitlin Clark's No. 22 jersey: 'There will never be another'
-
Nashville school shooting families accuse senator of using bill to get his way in records lawsuit