Jose Zapata, 22, a former Syracuse University student and Student Association assembly member, was acquitted on charges of first-degree sexual assault Wednesday in Madison County Court after a two-day trial.

‘I’m just glad it’s over,’ Zapata said. ‘Even though I was cleared I don’t feel like I’ve won anything. I’ve just gotten another opportunity to move on with my life.’

A former SU student accused Zapata of the assault on Nov. 17, 2002. The assault allegedly occurred Nov. 16, 2002, during a three-day retreat with his fraternity, Phi Iota Alpha, and other fraternities and sororities at the White Eagle Conference Center in Madison, NY, said defense lawyer James McGraw.

‘He was innocent from day one,’ said Marshall Jean, a senior finance and entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major and brother of Phi Iota Alpha.

Zapata was arrested on the sexual assault charges on Nov. 22, 2002, said district attorney Donald Cerio.

The arrest came exactly two weeks following the SA election for comptroller, in which candidate Zapata lost to incumbent comptroller Erin Maghran.

The victim, who graduated in 2003, testified that she and Zapata were sleeping in the same bed of her cabin when he began to touch her arms, legs and genitals, McGraw said. She told him to stop, and they both noticed blood but did not know whose it was, McGraw said. Later they determined Zapata had somehow cut himself.

The victim testified that she had smoked marijuana the night before the trial, and some members of the 12-person jury, comprised of nine women and three men, questioned her credibility, McGraw said.

The victim denied smoking marijuana the night of the alleged assault; however, one witness testified he had seen her smoking marijuana earlier that night, McGraw said.

But the victim gave her testimony very well, Cerio said.

‘I thought she was very good on the stand, taking into consideration that condition which someone in her context would testify,’ Cerio said.

The victim also testified that she did not yell for help because she did not want to wake her roommates, McGraw said.

Following his arrest, administrators removed Zapata from the university, and some people questioned the basis for his removal.

‘It’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but according to the university policy he was guilty until proven innocent,’ Jean said. ‘He was labeled as a criminal in the eyes of the university. The school had no evidence whatsoever of what had happened.’

The university should allow Zapata to re-enroll just as quickly as it had removed him following the arrest, said Maurice Broughton, a senior information studies, technology and marketing major and brother of Phi Iota Alpha.

The university should not have removed Zapata from SU without removing the accuser as well, because doing so proved that it believed he was guilty, Broughton added.

‘He lost two years of his life because he was just taken out of school without any proof that it had happened,’ Broughton said. ‘But she was able to continue to go here and graduate.’

Zapata, who was studying finance, management and supply chain management, also lost his scholarship to SU and does not plan to return.

‘I feel discouraged that I’m not able to continue at Syracuse, but I’m happy I’m able to continue someplace else,’ Zapata said.

‘At least he can move on from that experience,’ Jean added. ‘It was breaking him down.’

Published on April 4, 2004 at 12:00 pm