Crime21 September, 20263 min read
Jason Eaton Convicted Of Attempted Murder In Shooting Of Three Palestinian Students In Burlington
Jason Eaton, 51, convicted on three counts of attempted murder for Burlington Palestinian students shooting. One victim paralyzed; two others wounded from the November 2023 attack.
Conviction in Vermont
A Vermont jury convicted Jason Eaton, 51, of attempted murder for the November 2023 shooting of three Palestinian college students near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, and the conviction rejected Eaton's insanity defense. Eaton was found guilty on three counts of attempted second-degree murder for the shootings of Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, and prosecutors said the attack left Awartani paralyzed from the waist down. Eaton was convicted after a week-long trial that included testimony from the three students and psychiatrists called by both the defence and prosecution, and Eaton now awaits sentencing where he could be given life in prison.
Eaton never denied being the shooter but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and the November 2023 attack left Awartani paralysed from the waist down and wounded the two others. Judge John Pacht ordered Eaton jailed pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Insanity claims rejected
Eaton's lawyers argued that he believed the CIA and Mossad transmitted orders to him via FM radio and that God was commanding him to protect his Jewish neighbors. Joshua O'Hara, the supervising attorney at the Chittenden County Public Defender Office, told jurors Eaton believed the intelligence agencies had enlisted him to “overwatch duty” to protect a Jewish family living across the street. Eaton's lawyers argued he believed he heard instructions from the CIA and Mossad over the radio to shoot someone before he attacked Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid near the University of Vermont.
Prosecutors rejected the insanity defense, and a state psychiatrist concluded Eaton did not have a mental disease or defect and that the evidence showed he intended to kill the three men. The jury rejected Eaton's insanity defense rooted in his claims that he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad, and Eaton was ordered to be held in jail pending sentencing.
Families seek accountability
After the verdict, the families of the three men said the conviction could not erase the trauma but “affirms something fundamental: Jason Eaton is responsible for what he did,” and they said they finally felt relief after three years of sorrow, loss and struggle.
The Guardian quoted the families saying, “This was a hate crime. We have said so from the beginning,” and it said the families argued Eaton's words showed why he targeted their sons.
The Independent reported that the shooting prompted calls for a hate crime investigation, but it said no hate crime charges were filed as questions persisted about whether anti-Palestinian animus, an altered mental state or something else had compelled Eaton to open fire.
Eaton faces a sentence of up to life without parole, with a presumptive minimum term of 20 years to serve on each count, and prosecutors said the conviction rejected Eaton's insanity defense.
The New York Times said the jury rejected the argument that Eaton was not criminally responsible for his actions because he was mentally ill, and it said the shootings took place two days after Thanksgiving, blocks from the University of Vermont campus in Burlington.