A jury on Monday convicted a Vermont man of attempted murder in the shootings of three Palestinian college students who were walking near his home, rejecting an insanity defense rooted in his claims that he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad. Jason Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison for the November 2023 attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, which left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down and wounded his friends, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.
The jury deliberated for several hours before reaching its verdict after a weeklong trial that saw testimony from the three wounded men and psychiatric experts called by both the defense and prosecution. Eaton’s lawyers argued he was not criminally responsible due to mental illness, but prosecutors successfully contended that he knew what he was doing was wrong. The conviction on three counts of attempted murder followed the rejection of Eaton’s claims that he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad.
The 2023 shooting, just weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, was one of several cases that illustrated the violent reverberations of the war across the U.S. The attack drew national attention and heightened concerns about hate crimes targeting Palestinian and Muslim communities. The victims, all college students, were wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyehs and speaking Arabic when they were shot, according to authorities.
Eaton is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date, where he could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison. The case has sparked discussions about gun violence, mental health, and the impact of international conflicts on domestic safety. The survivors continue to recover from their injuries, with Awartani facing permanent paralysis. The verdict brings a measure of justice to the victims and their families, though the trauma of the attack remains.
Shimanta Das 
