OBSERVER photo by Gregory Bacon Hadi Matar is issued to his seat before his appearance in Chautauqua County Court Tuesday morning.

MAYVILLE – A trial for a New jersey man accused of stabbing a world-renowned author while at Chautauqua Institution last summer could come this fall.

Hadi Matar has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault after allegedly stabbing Salman Rushdie on Aug. 19 just before the writer was to give a lecture. Rushdie was stabbed several times and a bystander was also injured. The suspect is facing up to 32 years to life behind bars for the two separate charges.

On Tuesday, Matar was back in Chautauqua County Court. He has remained in the county jail without bail.

Public Defender Nathaniel Barone requested to the court that his client be given bail, but Judge David Foley denied that request.

Late last year District Attorney Jason Schmidt provided the defense team with all of the evidence they propose to use in trial, something required by law. He had requested extensions due to the nature of the volume of evidence.

On Tuesday, Barone requested certain statements be suppressed, as well as select evidence collected during search warrants. Foley has agreed to review the search warrant applications.

One possible piece of evidence is the interview Matar had with the NY Post. In that interview, Matar said he did it because Rushdie disrespected Islam with his book “The Satanic Verses,” which was published in 1988. He said he was surprised Rushdie survived the attack.

“I don’t think I would be doing my job if I didn’t use some of the contents in that interview. There are statements made in the interview which could be construed as admissions,” Schmidt said.

The court is expected to schedule a “huntley hearing” next, where the judge will determine the admissibility of some of the statements made by Matar. “The issue in a huntley hearing is whether those statements were made voluntarily,” Schmidt explained following Matar’s court appearance.

During Schmidt’s post court interview, he said things are moving along relatively quickly. “I think that we will hold hold these hearings, I’m anticipating within the next six to eight weeks, subject to Mr. Barone’s schedule, and then the court will have to issue a decision. That paves the way after that, so that this case can go on the trial calendar and we should be in a position to know the trial date. If I’m guessing, I’m thinking it could be as early as September or October,” he said.

Schmidt said his office has not directly spoken to Rushdie in regards to his condition. The 75 year old was interviewed by the New Yorker in February and said he is blind in his right eye, struggles to write and, at times, has “frightening” nightmares.