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(NEW YORK) — A New Jersey man convicted of attempted murder in the 2022 stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie, while on stage at a speaking event, is set to be sentenced on Friday.

Hadi Matar likely faces a maximum of 25 years in prison, prosecutors said. He rejected a plea deal ahead of the trial.

His sentencing hearing is set to be held Friday morning in Chautauqua County Court, during which a defense motion to set aside the verdict will also be heard, the court said.

In February, a jury found Matar guilty of second-degree attempted murder in connection with the attack at the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York.

Rushdie was on stage speaking before an audience at the education center on Aug. 12, 2022, when he was stabbed multiple times in the face and neck in the attack, which blinded him in one eye.

Henry Reese, who was moderating the event, was also wounded in the attack. Matar was also found guilty of assault for injuring Reese.

Matar was tackled by bystanders and pinned to the stage following the attack.

The jury reached a verdict within two hours of deliberating.

During the trial, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt played slow-motion video showing Matar emerging from the audience, sprinting toward Rushdie, and launching a violent attack. Schmidt described the stabbing as a deliberate, targeted act, arguing that striking someone 10 to 15 times in the face and neck made death a foreseeable outcome. A trauma surgeon testified that Rushdie would have died without immediate medical intervention.

“No question,” Rushdie told Good Morning America in April 2024 when asked if he thought he was going to die. “I mean, lying there in this lake of blood, which was mine and was expanding, I remember thinking in a completely calm way, Oh yeah, I think I’m dying. And then, fortunately, I was wrong.”

The defense countered that prosecutors failed to prove Matar intended to kill Rushdie and characterized the incident as a chaotic, noisy outburst rather than a calculated murder attempt. Public defender Nathaniel Barone argued Matar was overcharged due to Rushdie’s celebrity, noting he used knives rather than a gun or bomb and that Rushdie’s vital organs were not harmed.

Following the verdict, Schmidt described the prosecution’s case as “lock solid” and described the video evidence as “compelling.”

“I hope that two-and-a-half years later, Mr. Rushdie can get some satisfaction from this, poor Mr. Reese can get some satisfaction from this and everybody else that was there at the institution that risked their lives to jump on stage,” Schmidt told reporters.

Barone, meanwhile, told reporters they were “disappointed” by the verdict.

“What you hope for in any case, regardless, especially in a case like Mr. Matar’s, is that the system works for you,” Barone said.

Both Rushdie and Reese testified during the two-week trial. Matar did not testify and the defense called no witnesses.

The second-degree attempted murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, while the assault charge is seven years. Schmidt said following the verdict that he believed the sentences for the two charges would run concurrently, not consecutively, as they were “entwined in a single occurrence.”

“My analysis tells me that — and I always want to be fair here — that really the facts speak to a concurrent disposition,” he said at the time. “I believe even though the cumulative total is 32 years plus five years parole supervision, I think we’re really looking at 25 plus five. That’s what I’ll advocate for. I think that’s appropriate here.”

Rushdie recounted the attack in his book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which was published last year.

Matar still faces federal terrorism charges in connection with the attack. He was indicted by a grand jury on three counts, including attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and providing material support to terrorists. The indictment alleges he “knowingly did attempt to provide material support and resources” to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and “had engaged, and was engaging, in terrorism.”

Matar was also charged with an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries for the attack against Rushdie. The indictment alleges that he “did knowingly attempt to kill, and did knowingly maim, commit an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon.”

He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

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(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge overseeing the case of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia is set to hear arguments Friday over the Trump administration’s recent invocation of the state secrets privilege to shield information about its handling of the matter.

The government’s assertion of privilege was revealed in a court order last week from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in which the judge asked the parties to file briefs about the administration’s “invocations of privilege, principally the state secrets and deliberative process privileges.”

In the brief filed on Monday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys pushed back on the government’s invocation of the rarely used states secret privilege, saying that the government has produced no evidence “showing that it has made the slightest effort to facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from detention in El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13. His wife and attorneys deny that he is an MS-13 member.

Judge Xinis ruled last month that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, and the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that ruling, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

Following the government’s inaction, Judge Xinis ordered several government officials to testify under oath through expedited discovery in order to resolve the matter.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys argued in Monday’s court filing that the Trump administration “does not come close to making a showing that would disturb the common sense conclusion that there are no genuine state secrets at play here,” saying the administration’s public statements — including in congressional testimony, public interviews and social media posts — demonstrate that “answering the requested discovery would not imperil national security.”

Attorneys for the Department of Justice argued in their own brief that the discovery requests by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys “would damage United States’ foreign relations.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a sealed declaration submitted to the court, affirmed “after actual personal consideration” that “disclosure of such materials reasonably could be expected to cause significant harm to the foreign relation[s] and national security interests of the United States,” DOJ attorneys said.

The Trump administration previously invoked the state secrets privilege in a separate case in March when the government refused to provide a federal judge with information about deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.

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(NEW JERSEY) — New Jersey Transit train engineers have officially commenced their strike, shutting down commuter trains and leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters scrambling to find other modes of transportation.

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) union had been threatening to go on strike unless NJ Transit officials and the union were able to agree on new contract terms and conditions for the workers who drive the trains.

A deal was close but not reached, according to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, resulting in all New Jersey Transit commuter trains and the MTA Metro-North West of Hudson service to stop running when the strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.

On Thursday, both sides met again for 11th-hour negotiations to avert the strike, in addition to a meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday with the National Mediation Board, but no resolution was reached.

During a press conference late Thursday evening, Murphy and NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri encouraged commuters to work from home on Friday.

“If you can work from home, certainly tomorrow, and you’re out there watching that would be a really good day to do so,” Murphy said.

Kolluri said Thursday evening there was an imminently achievable deal and negotiations weren’t a “lost cause.” They are expected to resume negotiations on Sunday morning, according to Kolluri.

After a New Jersey Transit board meeting on Wednesday, Kolluri told reporters he was “confident and optimistic” about their efforts to avert a strike.

“I am going to stay at the negotiating table as long as it takes,” Kolluri said. “If it takes two to tango, I think if we can all focus on the task at hand, which is to get a fair and affordable agreement, I think we can avert a strike.”

BLET National President Mark Wallace said during a press conference on May 9 that it’s been five years since train engineers working for NJ Transit have received a pay increase.

“Reasonable people would vote for an agreement that is fair,” Wallace said.

Tom Haas, the general chairman for BLET, said during the same news conference that engineers working for NJ Transit earn an average salary of $113,000 a year. If New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average salary of $170,000 a year for engineer operators, then “we got a deal,” Haas said.

“NJ TRANSIT locomotive engineers already have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000,” according to a statement on the New Jersey Transit website regarding negotiations with the BLET.

During a separate press conference on May 9, Kolluri responded to the union’s arguments, saying Haas previously agreed to a wage increase to $49.82 an hour but then later demanded even higher wages because he thought there was a “better pot at the end of the rainbow.”

“I cannot keep giving money left and right to solve a problem. It all comes down to, who is going to pay for this? Money does not grow on trees,” Kolluri said.

ABC News requests sent to NJ Transit and the BLET for comment regarding Wallace, Haas and Kolluri’s statements concerning pay increase claims did not receive a response.

NJ Transit states that if they were to accept BLET’s terms, it would cost both them and New Jersey taxpayers $1.363 billion between July 2025 and June 2030. Additionally, if BLET chooses to strike, the taxpayer cost of providing a limited alternative service via buses would be $4 million per day, NJ Transit claims.

NJ Transit officials have said the strike would “disrupt the lives of more than 350,000 commuters” and developed a contingency plan that includes adding “very limited capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and contracting with private carriers to operate bus service” for commuters that typically rely on the trains.

But even with the expanded bus service, NJ Transit said that it “estimates that it can only carry approximately 20% of current rail customers” because the bus system doesn’t have the capacity to replace commuter rail service.

Xuan Sharon Di, associate professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia University, told ABC News before the strike began that it could be a “disaster” for the traffic in Manhattan due to the increased bus and car traffic into the city from commuters unable to take the train. There also will be the added penalty of commuters into Manhattan having to pay recently enacted congestion pricing.

“New Jersey Transit is the backbone for people who live in New Jersey to move around. This is actually shocking to me,” Di told ABC News of the prospect of a strike.

Steven Chien, civil and environmental engineering professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said many of his colleagues use NJ Transit to commute and that a strike will “paralyze vital transportation arteries in our regions.”

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(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — A 68-year-old woman has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a man at a senior living facility in Jacksonville, Florida.

Carol Carroll was arrested on suspicion of murder after sheriff’s deputies responded to Morris Manor Apartments and found 73-year-old Robert Tucker with multiple stab wounds to his torso in the lobby of the facility on Tuesday, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue informed officers that Tucker had died at the scene, according to an arrest report.

Officers noticed a trail of blood from Tucker leading to a specific unit on the property, including multiple spots of blood in the hallway, a pool of blood inside an elevator and more blood on the second flood of the building, according to the report.

After obtaining a master key from the property, Carroll exited the bedroom and was detained by officers, according to the report.

After police spoke to Carroll and reviewed evidence at the scene she was arrested for Tucker’s murder.

Carroll and Tucker knew each other prior to the stabbing, according to police.

A security guard on the property told investigators they had gone to conduct rounds on the property. When he returned to the front security desk in the lobby, he found the victim lying on the floor bleeding, according to the report.

The security guard told officers that he did not recognize the victim, according to records.

While searching the apartment, investigators found a small rag with blood on it, blood on the living room floor and bedroom floor. A knife with blood on it was found in a brown purse inside the bedroom, according to the arrest report.

Investigators notified Tucker’s sons of his death. They told investigators that Tucker came down to Jacksonville in February to be closer to his children and grandchildren, after being released from the hospital following an illness, according to the arrest report.

Tucker had been residing with Carroll at her apartment apart from staying with a son for two days, the report said.

Tucker’s sons told investigators that they did not know Tucker or Carroll to be violent and were not aware of any domestic violence issues between them. But, they told investigators that Carroll is bipolar/schizophrenic, according to the report.

Investigators did not find any obvious signs of injury on Carroll during two interviews with her, but photographs were taken of Carroll in areas where she told police she had been struck, the report said.

Carroll is being held in a pretrial detention facility and will be facing a murder charge, according to the sheriff’s office.

She is scheduled to appear in court on June 4.

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