Vermont jury convicts Jason Eaton over shooting of three Palestinian students
Eaton was convicted of attempted murder after a jury rejected his insanity defence. He remains jailed pending sentencing.
A Vermont jury has convicted Jason Eaton of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian university students near the University of Vermont in November 2023, Al Jazeera Global News reports.
The verdict followed a week-long trial and several hours of deliberation. Eaton did not dispute carrying out the shooting, but his lawyers argued he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, citing an alleged delusional psychotic disorder. The jury rejected that defence.
The attack left Hisham Awartani paralysed from the waist down. His friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid were also wounded.
Prosecutors argued Eaton intended to kill the three men, while the defence presented competing evidence about his mental state. The trial included testimony from the victims and psychiatric experts called by both sides.
Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison and remains jailed pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled. No hate crime charges were filed in the case.
