Vermont Man Convicted of Shooting Three Palestinian Students

A Vermont jury on Monday convicted Jason Eaton of three counts of attempted second-degree murder for the 2023 shootings of three Palestinian college students, rejecting his insanity defense. The verdict, delivered in Chittenden Superior Court, found Eaton, 51, guilty for the November 25, 2023, attack that left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down and wounded his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid. The jury deliberated for several hours after a weeklong trial that included testimony from the three victims and psychiatric experts. Eaton did not dispute that he shot the men but argued he was not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys claimed he suffered from a delusional psychotic disorder and believed the CIA and Israel's Mossad were transmitting orders to him via FM radio, commanding him to protect a Jewish family in his neighborhood. Prosecutors rejected this defense, presenting a state psychiatrist who concluded Eaton did not have a mental disease or defect. They argued the evidence showed he intended to kill the three men.