Gary Zerola, a former Boston lawyer and prosecutor once named one of People magazine’s most eligible bachelors, was sentenced on Monday to five to ten years in state prison for raping a 21-year-old woman.
Conviction and sentencing
Zerola, 52, was found guilty last month after a jury deliberated for five hours. He has been incarcerated since the verdict. The jury acquitted him of aggravated rape and burglary charges.
In January 2021, prosecutors stated that Zerola spent over $2,000 on a night out with a woman he was dating and her 21-year-old friend, who had just graduated from college. The young woman became intoxicated and needed assistance back to her Beacon Hill apartment. Later, Zerola entered the apartment without permission and sexually assaulted her around 2 a.m. while she was asleep.
Victim’s impact statement
In her impact statement read in court, the victim recounted the profound effect of the assault on her life. “For months after the incident, I experienced nightly recurring nightmares reliving the assault. Even today, I still have nightmares of someone breaking into my apartment and trying to assault me,” she wrote.
Prosecutor’s statement
“These cases are always difficult, and this victim deserves enormous credit for taking the stand and telling the jury what happened to her that night,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement following the verdict.
Zerola’s attorney, Joseph Krowski Jr., announced plans to appeal the conviction. He acknowledged that the sentence was within the recommended guideline range for someone without a previous criminal record but noted that Zerola had been acquitted on two of the three original charges. “He is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances and plans to use his time productively,” Krowski Jr. said.
Zerola had previously faced accusations of other sexual assaults but was not convicted in those cases. In 2023, he was acquitted of two rape charges in Suffolk County. He was also charged in three sexual assault cases between 2006 and 2007 but was not convicted. Zerola served as an assistant district attorney in Essex County for one year and in Suffolk County for two months in 2000.
Zerola was arrested in January 2021, leading to the current conviction.