The prosecution has rested its case on day three of the rape trial of former prosecutor and one-time “most eligible bachelor” Gary Zerola.
Prosecutors rested their case on the opening of Thursday’s session instantly after the jury was seated.
Zerola, 51, who served as a prosecutor in each Essex and Suffolk counties earlier than turning into a protection lawyer, has pleaded not responsible to accusations that he raped a 23-year-old lady in 2016.
On the primary day of the trial at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, which started on Tuesday, prosecutors first referred to as Jacqueline Hurley, a bartender on the former Four Winds in Boston, who testified that she had served drinks to the social gathering of 4 the night time of Nov. 9, 2016.
That social gathering included Zerola; Colleen Daley, the esthetician he had as soon as represented in courtroom and later started a “sexual relationship” with; a person named Jonathan Plaut, Zerola’s buddy who he was at a live performance with earlier than they got here to the Four Winds collectively and the proprietor of the Back Bay house the place the alleged rape occurred early the following morning; and the alleged sufferer herself, a 23-year-old esthetician who labored with Daley.
The subsequent witness was the alleged sufferer herself, who testified that Zerola had been kissing on her all that night time, a lot to her chagrin, and that she by no means consented to his alleged advances, first along with his fingers after which by way of full penetration on the L-shaped sofa within the house at round 7 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2016. Defense lawyer Joseph Korwski Jr. would get her to concede that she herself had kissed Zerola that night time, as properly, when he performed a SnapChat video of the second in courtroom.
Zerola is represented by Krowski and Rosemary Scapicchio.
Tom Brant, one of many prosecutors together with Ian Polumbaum, described the incident and summarized her later testimony in his opening assertion Tuesday.
“On the morning of Nov. 10, 2016, at a little before 7 a.m. (the victim), 23 years old, was asleep in a place she had never been before, an apartment she had never been before, on a couch she had never been on before. She didn’t wake up from an alarm, she didn’t wake up from a noise, what she awoke to was the defendant, Gary Zerola,” Brant stated, earlier than describing the alleged act of rape.
“She looked at him as she awoke and said, ‘What are you doing?,’” Brant continued, including that Zerola stated nothing however continued and escalated the alleged assault, even because the sufferer repeated, “‘What are you doing? What the (expletive) are you doing?!’”
Day two noticed testimony from Daley, who testified to heavy ingesting that night time, and that whereas she couldn’t bear in mind a lot from that night time due to the intoxication — and since being on the stand was “very stressful” — she did keep in mind that the alleged sufferer shook her awake on that sofa shortly after the alleged crime occurred and demanded that they depart.
She would additionally testify that the alleged sufferer, as they walked to Zerola’s automobile to be dropped off, grabbed her by the arm and whispered that Zerola had tried to “hook up” along with her earlier that morning.
Krowksi hammered again that Daley’s testimony had been extraordinarily inconsistent and, he stated, unfairly “selective” in that she appeared to recollect solely moments that put his consumer in a foul gentle. The alternate was intense and at one level Daley may very well be seen wiping tears from her eyes.
Wednesday additionally noticed testimony from Sharon Italiane, the registered nurse who carried out the rape package on the alleged sufferer and testified to bruising and minor abrasions on the alleged sufferer. Boston Police Department Det. Michael Ross who was one of many detectives who first interviewed Daley throughout their investigation additionally testified.
Zerola was a felony protection lawyer forward of those prices. He additionally spent a 12 months as a prosecutor within the Essex DA’s workplace and two months as a prosecutor within the Suffolk DA’s workplace, in keeping with the Suffolk DA’s workplace.
Once dubbed Boston’s most eligible bachelor by People journal in 2001 and named a finalist for ABC’s first season of “The Bachelor,” Zerola additionally has a pending cost accusing him of rape from 2021. He pleaded not responsible on that cost after he was indicted.
Court is presently in recess and is anticipated to renew shortly.
This is a growing story.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”