A jury Saturday found John Zaccaro Jr. guilty of selling cocaine to an undercover officer two years ago, rejecting defense arguments that he was entrapped by a pretty state trooper. The jury deliberated for slightly more than two hours before finding the son of 1984 vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro guilty of selling one-quarter gram of the drug in February 1986, while he was a student at Middlebury College. Zaccaro, 24, sat impassively as the verdict was read, his parents and other family members behind him. He faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A sentencing date was not immediately set. Outside the courthouse, Ferraro read a statement acknowledging that her son had done wrong in the case. But she also criticized Addison County State's Attorney John Quinn for ``prolonging the agony for two years'' regarding her son's fate. Ferraro promised to appeal the guilty verdict. She said she and her husband, John Zaccaro Sr., had tried to set up a plea agreement shortly after their son was arrested, but Quinn would not allow a plea bargain that would not include a felony conviction. ``We, as his parents would not allow him to plead guilty'' to a felony, she said. Ferraro said there were several drug cases recently in Vermont in which plea bargains were easily arranged and light sentences were given to defendants convicted of selling larger quantities of drugs. In her statement, Ferraro blamed the case on four people: her son; Quinn; former Middlebury police detective Sgt. David Wemette, who initiated the investigation after rumors circulated that Zaccaro had earned the campus nickname of ``the Pharmacist''; and herself because of the pressure her 1984 candidacy put on her family. Ferraro refused to answer reporters' questions as she and her family walked to their car and drove off. Quinn said the verdict ``sends a message that drug pushers will not be tolerated in Vermont. In my mind, it's been difficult dealing with the publicity in the case. I don't care who his parents are.'' The state's attorney has an unlisted home telephone number and could not be reached for further comment on the question of plea bargaining. The verdict came at the end of a six-day trial, more than half of which was taken up by jury selection. Zaccaro's defense attorney, Charles Tetzlaff, presented no witnesses, but told jurors in closing arguments that they should find his client innocent by reason of entrapment. In his instructions to the Vermont District Court jurors, Judge Francis McCaffrey said they could find Zaccaro innocent by means of entrapment if they believed he was induced to commit a crime he normally would not commit. Entrapment could not be used as a defense if the jury had considered the lesser charge of possession, the judge said. Tetzlaff said police acted improperly by sending an attractive female undercover agent to Zaccaro's apartment to buy cocaine. He asked the jury to send a message to police that society should not condone such activities. Quinn told jurors that the issue was whether Zaccaro sold cocaine to state trooper Laura Manning. ``Yes, she was deceptive. She's not going to the defendant's house dressed in a uniform. That would be ludicrous,'' Quinn said. ``I can't deny Laura Manning is attractive. I can't deny she's female. But I can deny she was bait.'' He described the deal as just another sale for Zaccaro. ``When he takes a packet off the tray, he opens it up, being the good merchant that he is ... looks at it, wraps it up'' and gives it to Manning, Quinn said. Earlier Saturday, the final prosecution witness, state police chemist Frank Durkee, testified that a packet of powder Zaccaro sold to Manning tested as cocaine. Tetzlaff, who rested his case soon after Durkee's testimony, had said in his opening statement: ``The defense will not dispute the allegation that he sold a regulated drug. This is a case of improper and overzealous police conduct.'' The attorney also said that Manning, an officer on her first undercover assignment, had brought up the subject of drugs, not Zaccaro. Manning testified Friday that she went to Zaccaro's apartment with instructions to buy one-quarter gram of cocaine. When asked what she said to Zaccaro, Manning responded, ``I said, `A couple of people told me that you could sell me some coke.''' ``And what did he say?'' Quinn asked. ``Sure,'' Manning quoted Zaccaro as responding. The judge banned the use of Manning's tape-recorded drug buy as evidence in the trial. He also refused to allow prosecutors to use items taken from Zaccaro's car, including documents described as drug records, $1,630 and eight grams of cocaine. The barring of the evidence in the car resulted in the dropping of a second charge against Zaccaro, possession with intent to sell. The defense also had raised the argument that Zaccaro was unfairly singled out because of the publicity surrounding his mother, but the Vermont Supreme Court refused to overturn the charges on that basis.
