Raleigh store owner found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in stabbing death
Jurors convicted Taiseer “Taz” Zarka of voluntary manslaughter Wednesday, sparing him a murder sentence in the stabbing death of a customer he suspected of stealing a bottle of Gatorade.
Bailiffs immediately handcuffed the downtown Raleigh shopkeeper as the family of Mark Thomas Garrity Jr., the customer who stumbled bloody into the street, sobbed from the gallery.
But a second phase of the trial began soon after when prosecutors sought to add an “aggravating factor” that might have nearly doubled Zarka’s time in prison: whether he killed Garrity knowing that a minor child was watching in the store.
Voluntary manslaughter generally carries a sentence of five years, and the aggravating factor could have boosted it to nine. But jurors deadlocked 8-4 on that issue, so Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory declared a mistrial on the “aggravating” portion alone.
Sentencing on the manslaughter charge begins Thursday.
The fatal stabbing at Taz’s in downtown Raleigh
The case stems from April 6, 2023, when Garrity walked into Taz’s Market downtown and Zarka grabbed the bag he was carrying, believing he had stolen a $3.39 bottle of blue Gatorade. The two struggled until the stabbing, a fight Zarka testified made him fear for his life and prosecutors described as a violent overreaction to a minor crime in which the shopkeeper repeatedly pointed a knife at his customer’s face.
Jurors faced three choices in the case: second-degree murder, not guilty or the middle-ground charge of voluntary manslaughter, meaning Zarka killed Garrity, but not with malice.
They deliberated for four hours Tuesday without reaching a unanimous decision, asking to watch again surveillance camera and cell phone videos — all of which end with Garrity staggering onto Wilmington Street, soaked in blood. Deliberations Wednesday took another 90 minutes, bringing jurors’ total time to roughly 5.5 hours.
Zarka takes the stand a second time
During the proceedings on Wednesday, prosecutors replayed surveillance video from Taz’s convenience store that showed a young boy near the register, his eyes turned toward the fight, and later standing feet away as Zarka held his knife and Garrity fled the store bleeding.
But Zarka’s attorney Karl Knudsen pointed out in cross-examination that footage showed the shopkeeper looking at Garrity, keeping his back turned to the boy until the stabbing had occurred.
Zarka took the witness stand a second time Wednesday and testified he kept his attention fixed on Garrity and had no idea the boy had reentered the store after his father bought something and left.
”I gave him a chocolate for free,” he said, recalling the transaction.
But Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour countered that Zarka should have known kids would be present, including the 17-year-old girl who filmed the stabbing.
”The point of it,” said Latour, aiming his laser pointer at a picture of the young child, “is the effect it had on this little man right here.”
By the end of court Wednesday, jurors unanimously told Gregory that more time deliberating would not bring a unanimous vote.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 11:18 AM.