A Vermont Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Jason Eaton, the man accused of shooting three Palestinian college students in Burlington more than two years ago, is fit to stand trial.
Judge John Pacht, in a 10-page ruling, found that Eaton understands the charges against him and the legal progress, and noted Eaton doesn’t have a history of psychotic mental illness, or a current diagnosis of one. Seven Days first reported the ruling.
“In this case, Mr. Eaton’s delusions represent a distortion of reality, but not a complete separation from it,” Pacht said in the order.
Eaton, 51, faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder; each carries a potential life sentence. He’s been held in prison since the November 2023 shooting.
Police say Eaton stepped off his porch and, without speaking, shot and wounded Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad. The three childhood friends, who were on an evening walk in Burlington Old North End, had been visiting Awartani’s uncle for the Thanksgiving holiday.
All three were hospitalized and Awartani, who was hit in the spine, was paralyzed from the waist down.
Pacht’s order clears the way for Eaton’s trial with jury selection scheduled to begin on June 1.
The ruling comes after a day-long hearing last month, where Eaton’s defense attorneys presented testimony that Eaton suffered from a psychotic disorder and lacked a rational understanding of the charges against him.
Eaton has claimed that he was acting on orders from American and Israeli intelligence agencies. He told mental health examiners that the CIA had contacted him through an FM radio and Bluetooth.
But Eaton’s claims about being contacted by the CIA were all made after the shooting and his attorneys didn’t provide evidence as to when Eaton first claimed to be in contact with the CIA, Pacht wrote. Eaton has also acknowledged to mental health examiners that his beliefs might be wrong, which Pacht said was an important factor in his decision.
Eaton also has a rational understanding of potential defense strategies in his case, Pacht said. Eaton has filed motions seeking to move his case to federal court so he can pursue the “public authority defense” — a legal claim where a defendant admits to the crime but is granted immunity because they were acting on government orders.
Pacht said that even if a court wouldn’t accept Eaton’s attempt to use the public authority defense, it is a real legal defense and Eaton understands it.
“Mr. Eaton’s choice to embrace this defense strategy makes sense when interpreted as the only narrative that allows Mr. Eaton to accept what he has done,” Pacht said.
In his ruling, Pacht also criticized both mental health evaluators for not doing enough research to support their diagnosis. The state hired evaluator diagnosed Eaton with narcissistic personality disorder and the defense expert said Eaton had a delusion disorder.
The evaluators reviewed “hundred of pages” of Eaton’s mental health records and interviewed him, but Pacht said neither conducted interviews with sources around Eaton to support their findings.
“For example, neither party interviewed Mr. Eaton’s providers or Mr. Eaton about the incident in September 2023 where he demonstrated a level of agitation and expressed some thoughts that were deemed unusual, and which was the closest medical contact in time to the offense,” Pacht said.
