Gary Zerola, the Boston attorney who was charged with raping a woman in 2016 was found not guilty by a jury in Suffolk Superior Court on Friday after a four-day trial, prosecutors said.
Zerola, a 51-year-old former prosecutor turned defense attorney, was accused of raping a 23-year-old woman in November 2016 when she said she woke up after a night of partying in the North End to find Zerola undressing and assaulting her.
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office issued a statement saying, “We are not afraid to prosecute the toughest cases and we always respect the jury’s verdict, no matter how disappointing.”
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Since Zerola once worked in the Suffolk district attorney’s office, a special prosecutor and victim advocate from Middlesex County were assigned to the trial that included emotional testimony on both sides.
Hayden’s office thanked the prosecutor, advocate, Boston police investigators, “and especially the survivor who had the courage to come forward and the patience to stick with it,” according to the statement.
The woman, now 29 years old, testified that Zerola silently raped her, despite her protests, and did not stop until she got up off the couch and went to wake her friend, who was casually seeing Zerola at the time. Still in shock, the woman said, she went to the hospital days later to be examined and speak to the police.
During the trial, Zerola’s attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, called the woman “a liar” and described someone whose story is filled with inconsistencies, who allegedly changes her version of events over time “not because she had an epiphany . . . not because she wanted to tell the truth, but because she was caught.”
The defense continued to call into question the woman’s testimony, and emphasized her preexisting relationship to Zerola.
Videos from the bar that night show Zerola and the victim’s faces close together, with Zerola seeming to try to kiss the woman. A second video shown in court also shows her friend telling Zerola to stop trying to have sex with the victim.
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Other photos from that night showed the woman kissing Zerola, both on the cheeks and on the lips.
Scapicchio said that her client is “relieved,” by the verdict resolving a case that lasted 6½ years.
“It’s always stressful to be accused of such a serious offense,“ she said in an interview with the Globe. “But in reality, the Commonwealth just didn’t have any evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“And the jury evaluated in, and decided in about two hours, that the Commonwealth didn’t meet their burden of proof,” Scapicchio said. “And so, that’s the way the system works.”
Scapicchio said, “The jury got it right.”
“We think that they were able to follow the law, they were able to evaluate the facts and the evidence that was introduced in the courtroom, and we’re very grateful to them for all of their hard work,” she said.
Over the past three decades, as many as a dozen women have accused Zerola of raping them in nearly indistinguishable assaults, according to court records. However, Zerola has rarely faced criminal charges. Two separate juries found him not guilty of rape and attempted rape in 2008. He has had sexual assault charges dropped in Miami Beach and New Orleans, while the statute of limitations has expired on at least three allegations from the 1990s, court filings show.
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He is also charged with raping a then-21-year-old woman in 2020. In that case, which is pending, he is accused of returning to the woman’s apartment without permission and sexually assaulting her while she was passed out.
When that case comes to trial, “we will once again do our best to prove those charges,” Hayden’s office said.
Kris Hooks of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Adam Sennott can be reached at adam.sennott@globe.com. Ivy Scott can be reached at ivy.scott@globe.com. Follow her @itsivyscott.