A judge ruled on Friday to delay the trial of the man accused of shooting and wounding three Palestinian college students in Burlington more than two years ago.
Judge John Pacht, in his written order, said that Jason Eaton’s trial, which was scheduled to start in June, would now begin on Sept. 10. VTDigger first reported Pacht’s order.
The delay stems from Pacht’s ruling earlier this month allowing Eaton, 51, to pursue an insanity defense.
Eaton’s attorney, Margaret Jansch, told reporters last week delaying the trial would give both sides more time to prepare, VTDigger reported.
Eaton faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder; each carries a potential life sentence. He’s been in prison since the November 2023 shooting, when police say he stepped off his porch and, without speaking, shot and wounded Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad.
All three were hospitalized, and Awartani, who was hit in the spine, was paralyzed from the waist down.
Eaton, without evidence, has claimed he was acting on orders from American and Israeli intelligence agencies. Until recently, he’d refused to mount an insanity defense, but changed his mind after Pacht ruled last month that he was competent to stand trial.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George had told Pacht in hearings that delaying the trial could mean the men who were shot might not be able to testify in person. Two of the three had planned to leave the U.S. immediately after the trial, and the other, who lives overseas, had arranged to return for the June dates, according to Seven Days.
Pacht, in his order, said that the court would reserve June 2 to take video testimony from two of the men who live out of state. The testimony would be taken from “the complaints appearing as they would at trial,” with Eaton being brought in for the testimony, Pacht wrote.
