By Khalida Sarwari
The father of a woman who was strangled and whose body was set on fire in October 2009 said he could start living his life again after a jury today found her boyfriend, a Palo Alto hookah bar owner, guilty of murdering her.
“Nothing is going to bring Jenny back,” 52-year-old Jim Schipsi said of his daughter, 29-year-old real estate agent Jennifer Schipsi, who was killed on Oct. 15, 2009.
“But when I heard the word ‘guilty,’ I thanked Jesus. Now I can go on living life,” Schipsi said, leaning back against a wall and weeping behind dark shades.
A jury of eight women and four men found the man suspected in Schipsi’s murder, Bulos “Paul” Zumot, 37, who owns Da Hookah Spot on University Avenue, guilty of first-degree murder and arson after only one day of deliberation following a trial that lasted nearly 4.5 weeks.
Zumot, who appeared in a full suit throughout the trial, walked in today without a tie. Shortly after the verdict was read at about 3:15 p.m., he walked away, his shoulders hunched and his face flushed.
His attorney, Mark Geragos, said Zumot was “bewildered, and so am I.”
“He’s a strong guy,” Geragos said. “He’s more concerned about his family.”
Zumot’s family, which included his mother, two brothers and sister, looked stunned but composed. They left the courtroom immediately following the verdict.
Several members of Schipsi’s family and friends were emotional even before the verdict was announced.
Roy Endemann, a 27-year-old Los Gatos resident and Schipsi’s best friend, later told reporters he was glad the trial had come to an end, but said it was still a sad occasion.
“Throughout this whole time I’ve had so much anxiety,” Endemann said, tears running down his face. “My friend is really gone.”
Today’s verdict was the culmination of a case that began 16 months ago at a cottage on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto where prosecutors said Zumot killed Schipsi and then set their Addison Avenue home on fire with her body inside to hide the evidence.
Prosecutor Charles Gillingham relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, such as text message exchanges, to show that Zumot was emotionally and physically abusive toward Schipsi.
Geragos pointed out that if Zumot had strangled Schipsi, there would have been a struggle between them and he would have had marks on his hands and arms.
Geragos repeatedly tried to discredit a trained dog named Rosie that detected accelerant in the house and on Zumot’s clothes, saying that a lab test of Zumot’s clothes did not reveal any traces of fuel.
The focal point of the case was a fight the couple had on the night before Schipsi’s death, following Zumot’s 36th birthday celebration with about a dozen friends at DishDash restaurant in Sunnyvale.
Witnesses, including Victor “Vinny” Chaalan, a friend of the couple, testified they got into a fight over the bill, and that Zumot later told Schipsi to shut up, causing her to cry and walk home alone with a broken shoe heel.
But Geragos said the fight was not as significant as prosecutors had made it seem. If Schipsi remained upset, she would not have recorded a sex tape with Zumot after their fight or done his laundry the following morning, he said.
He accused Gillingham of holding back certain evidence, such as a video of Zumot’s interview with detectives on the night of the death, and said certain aspects of the case were not thoroughly investigated, including a gas can found in the shed of Zumot’s landlord, John Eckland, or a white car on the block with a suspicious-looking person inside on the day of Schipsi’s death.
Last week, Zumot testified in his own defense, at one point weeping for five minutes on the witness stand.
Of the relationship he said, “Maybe you could say it was not normal, it was dysfunctional. We were okay with it. We accepted it.”
Zumot will return to court for sentencing on April 21. He faces a maximum sentence of 33 years to life in prison.
Geragos said he would file a motion asking for a retrial.