‘A despicable man’: Victim of convicted rapist Gary Zerola gives statement to court at sentencing

BOSTON — The victim of convicted rapist Gary Zerola, a now disgraced Boston lawyer who was once named one of People Magazine’s ‘Top 50 Bachelors,’ asked the court to hand down the “maximum” sentence of 20 years for his crime.

A judge instead on Monday sentenced the 52-year-old Zerola, who also once worked as a prosecutor, to serve five to 10 years in state prison. Prosecutors had asked that Zerola serve a sentence of 9 to 13 years.

“As much as I try to be strong and continue to work hard to prove this incident has little effect on my life, I fear I will be impacted by this for the rest of my life, given that I’ll have to live with this pain forever,” the victim, who did not attend Monday’s sentencing, said in her victim impact statement, which prosecutor Ian Polumbaum read to the court.

Zerola, who was previously acquitted of other rape charges, was convicted on June 26 of raping the woman after paying for a night out drinking in 2021, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.

He was convicted on the rape charge in connection with an incident in 2021, although he was acquitted of a greater charge of aggravated rape and burglary.

In January 2021, prosecutors said Zerola paid for a night of drinking with a woman he was dating and with the woman’s 21-year-old friend.

When the friend became intoxicated and had to be helped back to her Beacon Hill apartment, Zerola entered without permission and began having intercourse with the friend while she was asleep, according to prosecutors.

When the rape occurred, the victim was 21. Zerola was 49, more than twice her age.

He was also more “experienced” in both social settings and also in his legal profession, Polumbaum told the court Monday.

The morning after the rape, the victim said she was “trying to figure out Gary’s last name to tell the police who had assaulted me.” She then Googled “the little information I knew about the man, ‘Gary, defense lawyer of Boston.’”

“I felt embarrassed that I had even associated with such a despicable man, even in the very small way that I did. I am determined never to let this happen again,” she said.

The rape, she said, “has led to my paranoia trusting men.”

For months after the rape, the victim said, “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. I had never experienced a nightmare in my life before this. I’ve lost many nights of sleep,” she said in her victim impact statement. “Since he committed this crime, I’ve experienced an extreme sense of paranoia. Every time I’m in my apartment, my door is deadbolted and I live in constant fear that someone will enter without my permission and hurt me again.”

Zerola’s defense attorney, Joseph Krowski Jr., told the court, “We are disappointed by the verdict but I can’t question the factual validity of the verdict.”

Polumbaum, in addressing the court before reading the victim’s impact statement, said the court can view Zerola’s actions as “calculated, opportunistic and preying on her.”

“This was a different kind of rape than courts have traditionally and historically heard,” Polumbaum told the court.

“This is somebody who entered her home and then her bedroom and then her body, all while she was asleep after being intoxicated and physically ill in his presence not long before that,” Polumbaum said. “She woke up to being raped in her sleep. That’s a different kind of trauma. It’s a different violation of her autonomy.”

Zerola previously worked as prosecutor and defense attorney in Suffolk and Essex counties. He was also once named People magazine’s ‘Top 50 Bachelors.’

In June 2023, Zerola was found not guilty on two counts of rape. He had been accused of raping a 23-year-old woman he spent a night with back in November 2016.

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