WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — A Washington County jury found Jose Zaragoza not guilty Thursday on a kidnapping charge and one count of strangulation, while deadlocking on two other charges stemming from an alleged attack in a Giant Eagle parking lot.
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Police were called to the store on Washington Road around 10 a.m. in May 2024. Zaragoza’s ex-girlfriend told officers they met there to discuss upcoming court proceedings, when he showed up with a roll of duct tape and tried to pull her out of her car, choking her.
Defense attorney Adam Yarussi argued the incident was a setup, saying the encounter was recorded on the woman’s phone and that the evidence did not support the allegations.
“The alleged victim tried to set him up by texting him, saying, ‘Meet me at Giant Eagle.’ He arrived, and she recorded him for 11 minutes and 52 seconds. She testified the reason for recording was for custody purposes,” said Yarussi.
Yarussi told jurors that the two had a custody hearing in court the next day.
Zaragoza’s ex-wife attended the trial and said she was relieved by the verdict, telling Channel 11 she has “never seen him violent in 20 years.”
“He is the father of my two daughters. He is a good man,” Gabriella Dohi said. He’d never do something like that. He never do violence to my two daughters or anyone else, everyone in the community knows him, and he is a peaceful man."
District Attorney Jason Walsh told Channel 11’s Cara Sapida, “While we respect the verdict of the jury, we are always committed to seeking justice for victims.”
The district attorney’s office can choose to retry the two counts that resulted in a hung jury.
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