On Monday, a Vermont jury convicted Jason Eaton on three counts of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian students, including one former Brown student, in 2023.
Eaton was found guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and faces up to life in prison without parole, with a minimum sentence of 20 years for each count. The jury rejected his insanity defense, according to the Associated Press.
Hisham Awartani ’26 — a junior at Brown at the time of the shooting — sustained injuries that paralyzed him from the waist down. He was in Vermont during Thanksgiving break visiting two friends from other universities who were also injured in the attack.
A representative for Eaton did not immediately respond to The Herald’s requests for comment.
“I was grateful for the verdict,” Awartani said in an interview with The Herald. “I think justice was served.” He noted that the jury deliberations were shorter than he expected.
But Awartani said that he was frustrated by the lack of a hate crime charge. “It’s very obvious that it is a hateful act and the cause of violence was targeting us because we were Palestinians,” he said.
“Violence against (Palestinians) has been normalized and even excused,” Awartani said. “I think it’s a result of a media ecosystem that discards the value of Palestinian life in general, and … what happened to us was a consequence and an outgrowth of that within the United States.”
He added that because much of the court proceedings centered around Eaton’s insanity defense — and because the shooting was not being pursued as a hate crime in court — the hateful statements Eaton said were “addressed very briefly.”
Vermont does not have a standalone hate crime charge but instead an “enhancement” that can be added onto another charge. The legal bar to prove an act as a hate crime in court is very high, Awartani noted, and he said the prosecutors had been communicative and helpful.
“The statements that came up at trial were not statements the state was allowed to use in their case in chief, so unfortunately they could not be used as a basis for a hate crime enhancement,” Sarah George, the state’s attorney for Chittenden County, wrote in an email to The Herald. “We do absolutely intend on using the statements in our sentencing and will make our case to a Judge and ask that the statements be considered when deciding a sentence.”
With the trial over, Awartani said he plans to pursue archaeology graduate studies, most likely in Europe. “I’ll be staying in Palestine just while I’m applying for a year off,” he said.
After a week-long trial, the jury deliberated for two hours before finding Eaton guilty of all three counts, according to a statement released by George.
“Today’s verdict affirms that our Justice system works best when truth is brought to light and accountability is upheld,” George wrote. “The convictions in this case are not just a legal outcome — they are recognition of the harm done and a step toward healing for the victims, their families, and our entire community.”
Tahseen Ali Ahmad, a student at Trinity College, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College, were both wounded in the shooting. The three had grown up together in the West Bank, according to the New York Times.
The students were reportedly speaking in a mixture of English and Arabic and wearing keffiyehs at the time they were shot by Eaton, prompting federal officials to investigate if the attack was a hate crime. The shooting was ultimately not prosecuted as a hate crime in Vermont.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
Emily Feil is a university news and metro editor covering staff & student labor and RISD. She is from Long Beach, NY and plans to concentrate in English and international & public affairs. In her free time, she can be found watching bad TV and reading good books.
