Connecticut Post Newspaper Tuesday, March 20, 2007 By - Daniel Tepfer Testimony begins in trial from 2001 murder case Witnesses said Zoltan Kiss, 24, of Toronto, had pulled up on Pembroke Street and asked people on the street if anyone had Ecstasy for sale. Zapata then walked up to Kiss and began shooting him, the affidavit states. BRIDGEPORT - Testimony opened Monday in the Superior Court trial of Miguel Zapata, who police said orchestrated the five-year-old execution of a Canadian man shot to death while visiting his father here. Zoltan Kiss, 24, of Toronto, was found slumped in a car on Pembroke Street in the early morning of Sept. 28, 2001. An autopsy report revealed he had been shot 25 times. His mother began an intensive campaign to find her son's killer, offering a $10,000 reward in addition to the $50,000 offered by the state. In September 2005, she and her mother came to the site of her son's murder and began walking the street, banging on doors in an effort to find witnesses to the crime. Kiss' mother, Eva Kiss, was front and center in the courtroom as the trial opened Monday afternoon. Zapata's lawyer, Francis O'Reilly of Fairfield, attempted to get her excused from the courtroom, arguing that he may call her as a witness. But Superior Court Judge Lawrence Hauser denied the request, citing the state constitutional amendment allowing the parents of crime victims to be present at trial. Senior Assistant State's Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr. then presented his first witness, Bridgeport Police Detective Paul Ortiz. A member of the department's Identification Bureau, Ortiz described the crime scene and where pieces of evidence were found. Zapata, 22, dressed in a gray suit, sat hunched over the defence table during the testimony. He is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and carrying a pistol without a permit. Zapata, formerly of Bridgeport, is accused along with Orema Taft, 30, also of the city, of fatally shooting Kiss. Zapata was later arrested in Tennessee. Taft is awaiting trial. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Kiss and some friends had been taking the drug Ecstasy and Kiss told the others he was going out to get more of the drug. Witnesses said Kiss had pulled up on Pembroke Street and asked people on the street if anyone had Ecstasy for sale. Zapata then walked up to Kiss and began shooting him, the affidavit states. Police said a copy of the Connecticut Post was found near the crime scene. On the newspaper, police said they found fingerprints of a woman who later led them to Zapata and Taft, police said. |
 |