Ruling sets up potential battle of experts in trial of man accused of shooting Palestinian students in Burlington

A Vermont judge has rejected a bid by the defense team for a Burlington man accused of shooting and wounding three Palestinian college students to block a prosecution expert from taking the stand at his trial later this month. Jason Eaton’s state of mind at the time of the shootings nearly three years ago is expected to play a critical role in the trial set to start Sept. 10 with jury selection, with experts from the defense and prosecution expected to offer differing opinions. Attorneys for Eaton contended that their client was insane at the time of the shootings and not criminally responsible for his actions, with an expert for the defense expected to testify in support of that claim. Eaton’s defense team last month submitted a filing seeking to block a prosecution expert from testifying.

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Scoop News DeskBurlington, Vermont · Published Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 9:08 PM UTCUpdated Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at 3:41 PM UTC

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Eaton would constitute the unlicensed practice of medicine, and the Court should exclude her as a witness in the case,” the defense filing stated. Pacht, in May, ruled that Eaton would be able to pursue an insanity defense, despite an objection from the prosecution that a deadline had passed for raising it. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder in the shootings of the three young men – Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad, three out-of-state university students – in Burlington on the same evening in November 2023 .

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