New Jersey Army National Guardsman Stands Trial for Sexual Assault

Witness describes events before sexual assault at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
The Trentonian
By Isaac Avilucea
POSTED: 06/12/15

Ioannis V. Karazoupis, right, leaves Federal Court in Trenton

with his attorney Jerome Ballarotto Wednesday Oct. 1. 2014.

(Trentonian photo/Jackie Schear)

TRENTON
The difference between defense attorney Jerome Ballarotto inside a federal courtroom and outside of one is the difference between a wordsmith and a word sniper.

Outside the courtroom, the former Secret Service agent penned a novel about a Secret Service agent.

While Ballarotto’s flair for fiction solidified him as a wordsmith, it’s probably not what made him worthy of the trust and confidence of New Jersey Army National guardsman Ioannis “John” Karazoupis, 28.

Ballarotto’s actions as a word sniper during the second day of his client’s sexual assault trial is most likely what did.

Karazoupis is accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old guardswoman May 4, 2014 while the two were at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for training. He maintains the encounter was consensual while federal prosecutors contend the woman was blackout drunk and unable to consent.
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