Hookah bar owner sentenced to 33 years prison for murder

Bulos "Paul” Zumot, a Palo Alto hookah bar owner convicted of strangling his girlfriend and setting her body on fire two years ago, was sentenced Friday to 33 years in state prison.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena handed down the sentence eight months after a jury convicted Zumot of first-degree murder and arson in the Oct. 15, 2009 death of 29-year-old real estate agent Jennifer Schipsi.

The sentencing of Zumot, the 38-year-old owner of Da Hookah Spot on University Avenue, was the culmination of a case that began two years ago at a cottage on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. That’s where prosecutors said Zumot killed Schipsi and then set their home on fire with her body inside to hide the evidence.

Prosecutor Charles Gillingham relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, such as text message exchanges, to show that Zumot was emotionally and physically abusive toward Schipsi.

Zumot’s high-profile attorney Mark Geragos, who was not present, attempted throughout the four-and-a-half-week trial to discredit many key aspects of the prosecution’s case, including the detection of accelerant on Zumot’s clothes by a trained dog named Rosie, a fight between the couple on the night before Schipsi’s death, and cellphone data. Zumot was sentenced to eight years in prison for arson and 25 years for murder with parole.