The man accused of shooting three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont over Thanksgiving weekend 2023 spoke in court on Friday as his case works its way toward trial.
While Josh Eaton's lawyers have recommended he seek an insanity defense, NBC affiliate WPTZ reported, he is claiming he'd been working with the CIA and Israeli defense agency Mossad.
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WATCH HERE"Mr. Eaton informs us he was acting under the instruction of the CIA who then put him in contact with Mossad," one of the man's lawyers told the judge.
Encouraged to elaborate, Eaton said, "The only people I could offer you are confidential agents."
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SIGN UP The defense was seeking access to the shooting victims' phone records, which prosecutors staunchly opposed, and the judge declined to do, saying, according to WPTZ, "no showing has independently been made that these three individuals are connected to anything which would justify the conduct here."
The three young men were shot and seriously injured while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The victims were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, police have said. The suspect, a white man in his 40s, fired at them with a handgun, police said.
Jason Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder. The judge said on Friday that the trial was on track to begin in the fall, according to WPTZ.
