'Most eligible bachelor' acquitted in attempted rape case

January 18, 2008 01:33 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A former state prosecutor was acquitted of attempted rape and other charges today after a trial that featured graphic testimony from the victim -- and a defense that sought to raise questions about her credibility.

Gary Zerola, 36, who was once picked by People magazine as one of the nation's most eligible bachelors, faced a variety of charges for allegedly attacking the woman, who was 19 at the time, at his apartment in the early morning hours of Aug. 18, 2006.

The woman, now 20, testified in graphic detail about her struggle with Zerola in the apartment, saying that, at one point, Zerola forced her into his bedroom, slamming her head into a door frame.

Zerola testified in his own defense and adamantly insisted he did not assault the woman as she had claimed, said Paul Zerola, his brother and an attorney.

"Gary was honest, sincere,'' Paul Zerola said of the testimony and the acquittal."He's elated....He's excited to go on with his life.''

The trial was in Suffolk Superior Court, but Zerola was tried by a Middlesex County prosecutor because of his ties to the Suffolk district attorney's office.

Zerola is still facing rape and other charges in a Feb. 28, 2004, incident involving a different 19-year-old woman. And he was arrested in October on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted a third woman in Miami Beach.

Paul Zerola would not address the pending cases in Massachusetts and Florida in detail, but said, "Those are also false accusations and we intend on proving that in a court of law.''

In a statement following the acquittal, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said his office respects the jury's decision.

"We were confident in the case we put before the jury, but we must respect their decision today and we thank them for their service to the Commonwealth,'' Leone said, adding that his office would not speak further because there is a rape case pending against Zerola.

Zerola worked as a prosecutor in Suffolk County in the 1990s.