A Vermont jury on Monday handed down a unanimous verdict finding Jason Eaton guilty of seeking to murder three Palestinian students in 2023.
Eaton admitted to carrying out the attack in November 2023, when he shot Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad, and Kinnan Abdalhamid as they took an evening walk in his neighborhood. However, he sought to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing he was suffering from a psychotic episode during the shootings.
Eaton’s insanity defense was rejected by jurors at Chittenden Superior criminal court. They found Eaton guilty on three charges of second-degree attempted murder after several hours of deliberations conducted following a weeklong trial. Judge John Pacht ordered him jailed pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled. Eaton faces up to life in prison.
All three students survived the attack and testified in the trial. They grew up in the West Bank and became schoolmates in Ramallah before moving to the United States for college, with Abdalhamid attending Haverford College, Awartani attending Brown University, and Aliahmad attending Trinity College. While all three survived the shooting in Burlington’s Old North End, Eaton’s attack left Awartani paralyzed from the waist down.
At the time of the shooting, the trio was visiting Awartani’s grandmother in Vermont for Thanksgiving. Eaton targeted them, confessing to the shootings, though Eaton’s lawyers claimed he carried out the attack during a psychotic break, saying he believed the CIA and Israel’s agency Mossad were talking to him through an FM radio and Bluetooth and directing him to “go out and shoot somebody.”
“He believed he’d been instructed to do this by a government agency or God,” Defense Attorney Joshua O’Hara said.
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<p> ” data-large-file=”https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.webp” src=”https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.webp” alt=”Jason Eaton watches as Hisham Awartani arrives to testify in Eaton’s trial in Burlington, Vt., Monday, Sept. 14, 2026.” class=”wp-image-4736800″ srcset=”https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.jpg 1024w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://conservativemodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vermont-man-convicted-of-attempted-murder-in-shooting-of-three-palestinian-students.jpg?resize=696,463 696w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”><figcaption class=)
Jason Eaton watches as Hisham Awartani arrives to testify in Eaton’s trial in Burlington, Vermont, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (Glenn Russell/Pool photo via AP)LINDSAY CLANCY’S ATTORNEY MAKES PLEA FOR TRUMP PARDON
Awartani’s mother, Elizabeth Price, praised the guilty verdict in comments to reporters on Monday.
“The verdict cannot undo what happened or erase the trauma our families still carry, but it affirms something fundamental: Jason Eaton is responsible for what he did,” Price said.
