Hadi Matar

MAYVILLE – The suspect arrested in the stabbing of an international author at Chautauqua Institution two years ago has rejected a plea deal and has decided to take his chances before a jury of his peers.

On Tuesday, Hadi Matar was in Chautauqua County Court. He was invited to plead guilty to second-degree attempted murder and that guilty plea would include future federal charges. Between the local and federal charges, he would be looking at a maximum sentence of between 30 and 40 years.

Instead, Matar rejected that offer. Through his attorney, Public Defender Nathaniel Barone, a counter offer was made where Matar would only serve 15 years for the second-degree attempted murder, which District Attorney Jason Schmidt rejected.

County Court Judge David Foley went over the details of the plea offered by the prosecution and said that it is his understanding that Matar wishes to have his case brought to trial.

“Yep,” Matar replied.

Foley then announced jury selection for the trial would begin Sept. 10.

After the court appearance, Schmidt said the plea offer was actually initiated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “My position is always that I need Mr. Matar to be convicted of the top count of the indictment … My position was firm that I was advocating for the maximum sentence,” he said.

However, after the U.S. Attorney’s Office proposed the plea deal, Schmidt said he spoke with the State Police and Salmon Rushdie, the victim in the attack, and both expressed their support for the offer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has yet to indict Matar, but is reviewing options for future charges.

In Chautauqua County, along with second-degree attempted murder, Matar has been charged with second-degree assault for a second victim in the attack. Schmidt said Matar is facing a maximum of 25 years, because the second assault charge will likely be concurrent rather than consecutive.

Matar is in his mid-20s and Schmidt wants the maximum for him. “We want to keep him out of society that much longer. … I’m concerned about what happens to Mr. Matar when he gets out of prison,” Schmidt said.

A conviction on federal charges would likely be added on to any local charges.

Barone declined to say if he agreed with Matar’s decision to reject the offer from the District Attorney’s Office. “That’s something that’s privy to both Mr. Matar and myself and the discussions we had,” he said.

Separately, there will be a hearing on July 18 where Barone has requested any notes, including handwritten and audio recordings, from Random House Group when Rushdie wrote the book “Knife.”

Rushdie was attacked on Aug. 12, 2022, when he was at Chautauqua Institution to discuss the United States as a place of asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. “Knife: Meditations after an attempted murder” recounts the stabbing attack.

Rushdie received a dozen stab wounds from the attack. His right eye no longer functions and he has visible scars on his face and his neck.

In 1988, Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” was published. A year later, Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Rushdie and the book’s publishers, saying the novel was an insult to Islam.

The federal government is reportedly weighing charges in connection to the fatwa, which may have included a large financial bounty.