The man accused of shooting three Palestinian-American students more than two years ago in Burlington, Vermont, plans to raise a sanity defense at his trial after a judge ruled him competent to stand trial in the state. 

One of defendant Jason Eaton’s lawyers has requested a hearing Monday to request to delay the trial to secure more time to craft such a defense. The trial was originally scheduled to begin in June. 

“Having less than two months to flesh out the insanity defense is impractical,” the lawyer, Peggy Jansch, told Seven Days, a local Vermont news outlet. “The state would have to depose my yet-to-be-disclosed expert and then hire their own expert. To be done properly, it shouldn’t be rushed.” 

The Chittenden County state’s attorney prosecuting the case said that she is opposed to moving the trial.

Eaton was charged with shooting Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad while they were out on an evening walk in the city. All three were hospitalized, but not fatally wounded. Awartani, however, is paralyzed from the waist down after one bullet hit his spine. 

The judge presiding in the case ruled last week that Eaton was competent to stand trial following a marathon hearing last month during which Eaton’s attorneys provided evidence they believe shows he suffered from a psychotic disorder and lacked understanding of the charges against him.

Since being arrested for the shooting, Eaton has claimed he was acting on orders from the U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies. 

However, because these claims were made only after the incident, and Eaton separately acknowledged that his beliefs might be wrong, the judge decided the trial could move forward.

While some suspect that Eaton targeted the young men for being of Palestinian heritage, prosecutors have found no evidence that Eaton held particularly strong pro- or anti-Palestinian views before the attack, Seven Days reported.