A man charged with shooting three Palestinian students more than two years ago is competent to stand trial, a Vermont judge ruled last week.
Jason Eaton, 50, is accused of shooting the Palestinian students as they walked on North Prospect Street in Burlington on the evening of Nov. 25, 2023, a month after the start of Israel’s war in Gaza. The three men, two of them wearing keffiyehs, a traditional scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian identity, were in Vermont visiting friends and family for Thanksgiving.
Two of the men who were shot were treated for injuries at a hospital and later released. One suffered severe injuries and remains paralyzed from the chest down.
Last month, in Chittenden County Superior criminal court in Burlington, lawyers representing Eaton argued that he experienced delusions, including that he was being directed by the CIA through wireless communications. This made him unable to properly assist in his defense, the lawyers argued.
Eaton had previously been ruled competent to stand trial in November 2024. His attorneys sought another review of his competency after a hearing last year when Eaton said in court that he acted under the instructions of government agencies at the time of the shootings.
At the hearing last month, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George argued Eaton was competent. She said that Eaton understood the legal process and was able to effectively collaborate with his attorneys and make informed decisions.
After hearing testimony from psychiatric experts, Judge John Pacht sided with the state’s attorney’s argument, writing in a decision that “the defense failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Eaton suffers from a psychotic delusional disorder.”
Eaton’s attorney, Margaret Jansch, said she was disappointed with Judge Pacht’s decision.
“At this point in time, Mr. Eaton has a fixed belief about his defense, and that it is interfering with his ability to have a rational understanding of the charges and to effectively work with his attorneys,” she said.
The judge sided with the state’s argument in the decision on Friday, saying that while Eaton held fringe beliefs, “belief in such extreme or conspiratorial ideas does not render one delusional in the sense of a psychotic disorder.”
The judge also wrote that “there is no evidence that his delusions render him unable” to consider rationally alternative defense strategies.
Jansch said in an interview that she and her co-counsel are considering challenging the ruling. But even if an appellate challenge is filed, she said, it would not stop the case from moving forward.
The court is scheduled to begin jury selection on June 1.
