Salman Rushdie's stabbing trial begins with precarious jury selection Hadi Matar faces charges of attempted murder and assault.
Matar’s trial has been delayed twice, most recently after his attorney Nathaniel Barone argued his client would not get a fair trial in Chautauqua due to the publicity the attack received and the lack of an ethnically diverse community in the area.
The trial of Hadi Matar, the man who attacked Salman Rushdie in 2022, is set to begin, with a tricky jury selection underway.
“My preference is he would be the very first in the order, the very first day, we get him in and out,” Chautauqua county district attorney Jason Schmidt said, adding that Rushdie had been engaged during witness preparation sessions.
Questioning by presiding judge David Foley revealed that almost all of the 27 prospective jurors were aware of the details of the attack from media reports and social media, and several said they had opinions that were not likely to change based on information they would receive during the trial.
