Hate crime charges unlikely against man accused of shooting Palestinian students

The top prosecutor in Chittenden County says she does not expect to file hate crime charges against a man accused of shooting two Palestinian Americans and a Palestinian man in Burlington last year.

Jason Eaton is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

There are no stand-alone hate crime charges in Vermont. Instead, state law allows prosecutors to add a hate crime “enhancement” to a charge if the defendant’s actions are motivated by bias against a protected class, which includes race, gender, class and sexual orientation. The enhancement increases the criminal penalties a defendant faces.

Chittenden County Prosecutor Sarah George said in a brief interview Tuesday that there is currently insufficient evidence to strengthen the attempted hate crime murder charge against Eaton.

More from Vermont Public: Some want Burlington shooting investigated as a hate crime. This is how the law works

In Vermont, most hate crime cases involve a defendant making incriminating statements during the alleged crime. Last year, a review of a dozen recently filed hate crime cases by Vermont Public found that all incidents involved a person using racial, ethnic or homophobic slurs during the alleged crime.

According to court documents, Eaton climbed off a porch and, without speaking, shot and wounded Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, who were in Burlington for Thanksgiving last year. Two of the three young men wore traditional Palestinian scarves and spoke a mix of Arabic and English.

All three were hospitalized and Awartani, who was hit in the spine, was paralyzed from the waist down.

The attempted murder case against Eaton is expected to be heard in late 2025. During a status conference in Chittenden County Criminal Court on Tuesday, Judge John Pacht said a recent psychiatric evaluation determined Eaton was competent to stand trial.

Pacht set a May 31 deadline for both sides to complete testimony to keep the case on track for trial.

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