The Wrongful Conviction

Paul Zumot

SCC Case # BB943863

On February 10th 2011, Bulos Zumot was convicted of a murder someone else committed. Bulos (Paul in English) was the first in the State of California to be convicted based on the newly enacted hearsay rule 1390, and absent of any physical evidence.

On October 15th 2009, Paul's girlfriend and would-be fiance Jennifer Schipsi was murdered, and her body was set on fire at the cottage they shared together in Palo Alto.

The Santa Clara county assistant District Attorney, Charles (Chuck) Gillinham, and the Palo Alto police secured a conviction of an innocent man by playing on the jury's emotions, hiding exculpatory evidence, hiding the mental history of the victim, lying, and hiding the fact that the victim had many enemies who wanted her hurt or dead. By demonizing a decent respectable human being, and painting him as a monster, an innocent man was wrongly accused of a crime.

The jury was prevented from seeing that Jennifer had filed a declaration the week of her death, asking for protection from two individuals whom she claimed have threatened her and Paul's lives, and who told her, according to her declaration, that "they would either kill Paul or lock him up for life."

The jury was not allowed to see other restraining orders and domestic violence that Jennifer had filed against ex-boyfriends and neighbors.

Citing the newly enacted California Evidence Code Section 1390, Judge David Cena ruled in favor of the prosecution, allowing hearsay testimonies in the trial. He based his ruling on domestic violence and threat allegations that PAPD and Chuck Gillingham knew never existed. Evidence that supported Paul was destroyed by PAPD. New evidence that corroborates Paul's claims has since emerged.

All the hearsay the judge admitted was based on a false claim by the victim. PAPD KNEW about the false claim and had the proof on hand at the time they testified to the contrary. PAPD destroyed the tape that proves that Paul NEVER threatened Jennifer, and they did not share Jennifer's emails with the defense; emails that prove that she lied to friends about Paul to get back at him for wanting to break up with her, and emails that show she was in constant fear for her life even before she knew Paul, and emails that show affairs with powerful men. PAPD hated Paul because he called them whenever drunks walked in to his shop. Listen to Jennifer in her own words talk about them wanting to handcuff him two months before she got murdered, even though they knew he was unsuspecting innocent man.

PAPD destroyed the chances of finding out the time of death of Jennifer by failing to call the coroner to the crime scene for eighteen hours after they discovered the body, leaving the body to start decomposing without refrigeration. The coroner's office called multiple times, but they ignored his calls, and later apologized for forgetting. This is in violation of the coroner's protocol of custody of a murdered victim's body.

Chuck Gillingham fought to the bitter end, and won, concealing the interrogation tape from the jury. The tape shows how Paul Zumot was cooperative with Police and did not hide facts like Chuck claimed in court. It also shows the hysterical reaction of Paul after learning of Jen's death.

Updating the website to include transcripts from the trial including the jokes Gillingham called evidence. Videos and audio will be also be added soon.