Jury convicts former Suffolk County prosecutor of rape

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted Gary Zerola, 52, of Salem, of raping an intoxicated, sleeping woman in her Beacon Hill apartment in 2021, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Zerola, once named as one of the nation's most eligible bachelors by People magazine while he worked as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, had been acquitted of rape charges three times earlier and had one rape case dropped before it could come to trial since 2008.

His most recent acquittal came last year, when a Suffolk jury found him not guilty for a 2016 incident in Charlestown.

While awaiting trial on the Charlestown case, Zerola was charged with the 2021 rape that led to his conviction today. According to the DA's office:

In January 2021 Zerola paid for a night of drinking with a woman he was dating and with the woman’s friend, 21. The friend became intoxicated and had to be helped back to her Beacon Hill apartment. Zerola later entered the apartment without permission and began having intercourse with the friend while she was asleep.

Although the verdict could mean up to 20 years of prison time for Zerola, the jury acquitted him of a more serious charge of aggravated rape.

Following the reading of the verdict, Judge Mary Ames ordered him held without bail pending his sentencing, set for July 15.