A Massachusetts lawyer and former prosecutor was found guilty of rape in a Boston court Wednesday.
Gary Zerola was accused of breaking into the home of a 21-year-old woman early the morning of Jan. 12, 2021, and sexually assaulting her while she slept. They had been out together earlier that night at a private party with a mutual friend and Zerola dropped her off at her home when she was feeling sick.
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The jury acquitted Zerola, 52, on a second charge, burglary, as well as a greater charge of aggravated rape, prosecutors said. He will be sentenced for rape on July 15.
Zerola, of Salem, is a criminal defense attorney who has served as a prosecutor in Essex and Suffolk counties and was once listed by People Magazine as a top bachelor.
Last year, he was found not guilty on two counts of rape in an alleged 2016 attack in Boston in which Zerola was accused of sexually assaulting a friend of his then-girlfriend's at a Beacon Hill apartment after a night of partying together. He was also acquitted of rape in Boston in 2008, and had a rape charge from Florida dropped as well.
Zerola was held without bail on Wednesday, according to court records. The jury began deliberating Tuesday at about 1 p.m.
Prosecutors said when Zerola was initially charged in the 2021 case that the victim called investigators in the Boston police sexual assault unit after going to Massachusetts General Hospital. She had been out the night before, into that morning, with Zerola and a mutual friend at a private party in a closed bar or restaurant in the North Station area.
The woman and Zerola had met once before that night, prosecutors said, and the lawyer drove her home because she was feeling sick from the alcohol and an illness. But she allegedly woke up later and found Zerola had entered her apartment without her permission and was having sex with her against her will.
