A man in a blue dress shirt sits at a table, gesturing with one arm. A couple paper cups and water bottles are on the table, and the arm of another person sitting out of view of the camera is visible.

Salman Rushdie was so stunned when a masked man started to stab him on a stage in western New York in 2022 that the acclaimed author didn't even try to fight back, a prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in the accused attacker's attempted murder trial.