Mass. plaintiffs drop suit over marijuana delivery rules
Colin A. Young
BOSTON Stung by an exodus of members since it filed suit to block new cannabis industry rules permitting home delivery, the business group that represents most of the state s brick-and-mortar marijuana shops announced Monday morning that it is dropping the legal challenge.
The Commonwealth Dispensary Association and its attorneys from Foley Hoag argued in a suit that the new delivery-only license types created by the Cannabis Control Commission violated the state s marijuana law, which they said gives the retailers the right to deliver cannabis under their existing licenses. Simply, the CCC overstepped its authority and disregarded state law, radically upending the established rules that hundreds of small businesses and their host communities operated in accordance with since 2016, the CDA said in a statement when it filed its suit earlier this month.
A Boston attorney whose name was once on
People magazine’s list of most eligible bachelors has been charged with raping two victims, according to the
New York Post.
“Gary Zerola, 49, who appeared in the magazine’s 2001 list of ‘America’s Top 50 Bachelors’ alongside the likes of actors Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Benicio del Toro, was arraigned on Jan. 15 on charges of rape and breaking and entering with felony intent,” the outlet reported.
A press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office detailed the case:
At the request of Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, Judge Mark Hart Summerville ordered Mr. Zerola held without bail pending the outcome of a hearing scheduled for Thursday, January 21, 2021. Mr. Zerola is already facing charges in Suffolk Superior Court for the alleged rape of a different woman in 2016, and had posted $10,000 bail in that case.
Former prosecutor Gary Zerola facing new rape charge held without bail
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
A former Boston prosecutor and defense attorney facing new rape charges has been ordered held without bail, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Gary Zerola, 49, of Salem, appeared Thursday in Boston Municipal Court for a dangerousness hearing before Judge Thomas Horgan.
Prosecutors argued that Zerola is a danger to the community because he has a history of rape allegations dating back to 1996 and had been out on bail for a separate rape allegation when the most recent attack allegedly occurred, Rollins said
Zerola faces charges in Suffolk Superior Court for the alleged rape of a different woman in 2016, and had posted $10,000 bail in that case.
Former Attorney on People’s ‘Most Eligible Bachelor’ List Charged With Multiple Accounts of Rape
January 22, 2021
Writer
Former Boston prosecutor and defense attorney Gary Zerola, 49, was arraigned on Jan. 15 on charges of rape and breaking and entering with felony intent according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Zerola appeared in People’s 2001 list of “America’s Top 50
Bachelors,” but is now being recognized for his current and previous rape
allegations.
The new case is stemmed from allegations that Zerola met the
woman at a gathering Jan.11 and then accompanied her, along with a mutual
acquaintance back to her apartment.
Gary Zerola, Massachusetts attorney and former prosecutor, charged with raping intoxicated woman on January 11
At the time, he was out on bail stemming from a 2016 sexual assault case
Zerola, named one of People magazine s most eligible bachelors in 2001, has a history of rape allegations dating back to 1996
After his latest arrest, prosecutors said two women have come forward to accuse Zerola of raping them in the 1990s
Zerola, who worked as assistant district attorney in Essex County for a year, was acquitted of rape and attempted rape in 2008