Prosecutors in Rushdie Stabbing Case Want More Time To Review Evidence

MAYVILLE, New York — The criminal case against the man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie involves so much potential evidence that prosecutors need more time to review it, the chief prosecutor said Wednesday.District Attorney Jason Schmidt of Chautauqua County in western New York said his office is reviewing about “30,000 files,” without providing details. He asked for more time to comply with a legal requirement to turn over evidence to suspect Hadi Matar’s attorney, the Observer of Dunkirk reported.Mr. Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, questioned the need for delay.“Just because there may be volumes of discovery out there, that doesn’t change the fact that that’s their job,” Mr. Barone said after the hearing. “They better get to it and we’re entitled to it.”Prosecutors say Mr. Matar, 24, stabbed Mr. Rushdie in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye at a literary event in western New York, before onlookers intervened. Mr. Rushdie had been sitting in a chair onstage at the Chautauqua Institution waiting to be introduced for an August 12 discussion of protections for writers in exile and freedom of expression.The author was recovering in a Pennsylvania hospital in the days after the attack. A lawyer for Mr. Rushdie’s family did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking an update on his condition.The cofounder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, Henry Reese, was onstage with Mr. Rushdie and suffered a gash to his forehead, bruises and other minor injuries.Mr. Matar, who has been held without bail since his arrest, arrived at Chautauqua County Court in a black-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, wearing shackles and a white medical face mask.The judge reserved decision on whether to grant prosecutors more time to share evidence, and ordered the sides to return September 13.Mr. Matar, who lived with his mother in Fairview, New Jersey, is charged with attempted murder and assault. He has pleaded not guilty. Mr. Schmidt, the district attorney, did not rule out additional charges Wednesday, pending the continuing investigation.In a jailhouse interview with the New York Post after his arrest, Mr. Matar spoke about disliking Mr. Rushdie and praised Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He issued an edict in 1989 demanding Mr. Rushdie’s death over his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.Mr. Rushdie spent years in hiding but had traveled freely over the past two decades.

Prosecutors in Rushdie Stabbing Case Want More Time To Review Evidence

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