| Connecticut Post Newspaper Wednesday, March 28, 2007 By - Daniel Tepfer Witnesses saw men run from Kiss slaying Bridgeport - A city woman testified she saw "two black men" and not Miguel Zapata running from the scene of a Toronto man's murder as Zapata's defense began its case Tuesday in Superior Court. Veronica Carrasquillo said she had been watching television in her Pembroke Street apartment in the early morning of Sept. 28, 2001, when she heard gunshots. She said she peeked out the window and then went to wake her boyfriend in the next room. Together they looked out the window. "I saw two black men running towards a white car," she said under questioning by Zapata's lawyer, Francis O'Reilly. She said she knew neither was Zapata because she is acquainted with him. Zapata, 22, of Bridgeport, is facing a 12-member jury charged with Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, and Carrying a Pistol Without a Permit. He is accused of fatally shooting Zoltan Kiss, 24, of Toronto, who police said went to Pembroke Street to buy the drug ecstasy. Zapata was later arrested in Tennessee. Under cross-examination by Senior Assistant State's Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr., Carrasquillo, who no longer lives on Pembroke Street, said last Friday she was approached at her home by Zapata's girlfriend. She said after talking to the girlfriend she agreed to speak to an investigator for the defense. Zapata glared at Satti and shook his head as the prosecutor worked to dissect the woman's testimony. She admitted under his questioning to getting a protective order against her boyfriend in August 2001 after he beat her. "How then was your boyfriend in the apartment with you when you claim to have seen the two black men?" Satti asked. "He broke in. He was always breaking in," she responded. Testimony is to continue this morning. |
 |