Gerald Zerkin

Gerald T. Zerkin (1950 - ) is a senior assistant federal public defender in Richmond, Va. In the 1970's, he attended Brandeis University, where he received his Bachelor's degree, and Boston College, where he received his degree in Law. He began private practice in 1978, and began his work defending death row inmates in 1980, including Earl Washington. He has specialized in death penalty defense and civil rights. At their annual dinner in 1999, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) awarded Zerkin, praising him as an "expert capital case litigator." In 2001, Zerkin joined the public defender's office.

He has gained further notoriety for leading the defense, along with Edward B. McMahon Jr., of the trial of Al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui. Associates have commented on Zerkin's "dedication and willingness to live away from home to work the Moussaoui case." (Forbes.com) Zerkin has argued strongly for a life imprisonment sentence for Moussaoui, declaring that the defendant wanted a death sentence so that he could be a shahid (martyr), despite statements from Moussaoui indiciating that he would like to live and "fight" and that he believes he will be released from prison. Zerkin further insisted that his client was schizophrenic and was not actually aware of Al Qaeda's plot to fly planes into the World Trade Center towers and other strategic targets, despite Moussaoui's protests to the contrary. Moussaoui had complained about his government appointed lawyers on a number of occasions, calling Zerkin "Jewish Zealot Zerkin" and "Jew Zerkin", and complaining of "misconduct and ineffective assistance" on the part of his lawyers'. During jury selection, Zerkin successfully prevented a colleague of a 9/11 victim from presiding on the jury, calling him unfit, though the man stated that he had not attended the victim's funeral and did not believe that all terrorists should receive the death penalty. In contrast, Zerkin successfully campaigned for a county government worker who described herself as a "liberal" to be on the jury, though she had proclaimed on a jury questionnaire: "I don't think we have the right to take anyone's life."

Zerkin heads Zerkin & Associates.