Gilroy
– A jury found Paul Zapata guilty Tuesday of killing a man
outside a 7-Eleven store more than three years ago in a
gang-related shooting.
It didn’t take long for the jury of nine women and three men to
determine that Zapata, 23, committed first-degree murder in 2001,
based on police findings in a nearly two-year investigation.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – A jury found Paul Zapata guilty Tuesday of killing a man outside a 7-Eleven store more than three years ago in a gang-related shooting.
It didn’t take long for the jury of nine women and three men to determine that Zapata, 23, committed first-degree murder in 2001, based on police findings in a nearly two-year investigation.
Following a four-week trial, jurors returned the verdict at 11:15am Tuesday, after deliberating for 90 minutes Monday afternoon and over an hour Tuesday morning.
“It was one of those cases where it was just all put together, everybody had a piece of the puzzle to put together to show that he was the murderer,” said Stuart Scott, the assistant district attorney who tried the case.
Besides the first-degree murder charge, Zapata was convicted on two additional charges of using of a firearm causing death and committing a crime to benefit a criminal street gang.
When he is sentenced at 9am on Dec. 13, Zapata will face a minimum of 60 years to life in prison – meaning he won’t be released before the age of 83.
Scott called police and 12 other witnesses to the stand during the course of the trial to prove that Zapata, 19 years old and a Hollister resident at the time, confronted 24-year-old Juan Miguel Trigueros, a student at Gilroy’s Center for Employment Training, outside the 7-Eleven store at Leavesley Road and Murray Avenue about 2am May 19, 2001. After exchanging words, Zapata produced a handgun and shot Trigueros twice at close range, hitting him in the left shoulder and chest.
Scott credited the Gilroy Police Department with conducting a superior investigation and keeping Gilroy safe from gang-related violent activity, in general.
“(Detective) Dan Zen of the Gilroy Police Department took this case over in the winter of 2002 and it was a cold case,” Scott said. “He was able, with the help of Officer Jim Gillio, to get some leads and just through some good police and detective work, they were able to bust through this case and put it all together.”
Detective Zen took over the case when the previous detective rotated out of the position, so it wasn’t that cold, he said.
Officers, including Geoff Guerin, had little to work from at that point, but after tips from two informants, things started to come together.
“Some of the things that they gave us added a little bit of value to what we were investigating, and slowly but surely, we were able to make the case,” Zen said.
It is exciting to solve a case and be able to get a conviction so long after the crime was committed, he said.
“There are always going to be unsolved homicides, just hopefully, you make them as far and few as you possibly can,” Zen said. “What it does do, is it takes this one off the shelf, so to speak, so we can concentrate on other things. … It’s going to empty the plate for more cases.”
