OMM Redaksiyası
A jury in the US state of Vermont has convicted 51-year-old Jason Eaton of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian college students near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington in November 2023, The Guardian reported.
Eaton faces up to life in prison. The shooting left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down and wounded his friends Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid.
Jury rejects insanity defense
The verdict followed several hours of deliberations after a week-long trial that included testimony from the three victims and psychiatric experts for both the defense and prosecution.
Eaton did not dispute that he was the shooter, but pleaded not guilty and argued that he was not criminally responsible because of his mental state. His lawyers cited his claims that US and Israeli intelligence agencies had sent orders to shoot the men through an FM radio and that God had instructed him to protect his Jewish neighbors.
The jury rejected the insanity defense. Eaton was ordered to remain in jail pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. He stared ahead as the verdict was read, while Awartani and Aliahmad smiled and embraced people around them.
Families describe shooting as a hate crime
“Justice has been rendered for Hisham, Kinnan and Tahseen. After three years of sorrow, loss and struggle, our families finally feel relief,” the families said in a joint statement.
They said the verdict could not erase the trauma, but “affirms something fundamental: Jason Eaton is responsible for what he did.” The families also accused Eaton of repeatedly using hateful language about their sons during the trial, saying his own words demonstrated why they had been targeted.
“This was a hate crime. We have said so from the beginning,” they said.
The families thanked supporters in Burlington and across Vermont, while also drawing attention to the wider suffering of Palestinians.
“While our children fought to heal from being shot in Burlington, they watched Palestinian children lose their lives, their homes, their land, their families,” they said.
“Hisham, Kinnan and Tahseen have spent three years rebuilding their bodies and their lives after a hateful act almost killed them. We are profoundly relieved.”
