A forensic psychiatrist hired by state prosecutors said on Thursday that while Jason Eaton has struggled with mental health issues, he doesn’t have a psychotic disorder and wasn’t legally insane when he shot three young men in November 2023.
“It wasn’t caused by an organic psychotic disease, rather it was caused by a constellation of factors,” Dr. Jhilam Biswas said during her testimony.
Biswas, who testified on the fourth day of the trial, said she reached her opinion after reviewing multiple sources, including Eaton’s previous mental health examinations, medical records, and an in-person interview with Eaton earlier this year.
Eaton faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder for allegedly shooting three Palestinian college students who were visiting Burlington.
According to prior trial testimony, Eaton stepped off a porch and, without speaking, shot Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad while they were on a walk. All three survived, but Awartani was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Eaton’s attorneys have argued that Eaton was legally insane at the time of the shooting. During the trial, they presented portions of an interview they conducted with Eaton several days after the shooting where he claimed that government intelligence agencies or God directed him to shoot the young men.
“I was either talking to my ancestors and the divine consult or talking to an intelligence agency using an incredible AI that could come through my FM radio, through my bluetooth headset, through my phone — or I’ve had this incredible psychotic break,” Eaton said in the recording.
On Wednesday Eaton’s defense team presented testimony from Dr. Fabian Saleh, their own mental health expert, who determined Eaton suffers from psychotic and delusions disorders.
But Biswas said that, according to her review, Eaton had never previously been diagnosed with a psychotic or delusions disorder. Eaton’s documented mental health issues included attention deficit disorder and borderline personality disorder, Biswas said.
Biswas said Eaton’s awareness that he might be imagining the purported radio commands from the CIA also factored into her conclusion that he wasn’t legally insane at the time of the shooting.
“It is not a delusion because he’s grappling with the fact that it could have been a psychotic break,” Biswas said.
Biswas also pointed to Eaton’s daily cannabis and alcohol use. Biswas testified that the drug use could have contributed to his feelings of paranoia, particularly since he’d recently lost his job and didn’t have a way to pay rent.
Eaton’s attorney, public defender Margaret Jansch, raised questions about Biswas methodology and findings during cross-examination on Thursday.
Jansch questioned whether Biswas followed proper procedures during her interview with Eaton in July 2026. Biswas initially told Eaton she was conducting a court ordered evaluation, and didn’t say she had been hired by state prosecutors, Jansch said.
Biswas said it was a slip of the tongue. Her reason for being there, she said, was clear.
Later in the cross-examination, Jansch pushed back on Biswas’ conclusion that Eaton’s cannabis use was a factor in the shooting.
Biswas’ cross-examination is set to continue on Friday.
The fourth day of the trial began with an attempt by Eaton to fire his attorneys. Eaton has tried two other times to get new lawyers.
Eaton told Judge John Pacht that he didn’t think his public defenders were adequately representing him. He asked that he be allowed to be allowed to represent himself.
Pacht denied Eaton's motion.
“At this point, we’re in the middle of a trial,” Pacht said.
“I vigorously, strenuously, repeatedly object to the denial of the motion,” Eaton said.
Later in the day, Eaton told Pacht that he would not take the witness stand in his own defense.
