Following the publication of Townhall's explosive four-part investigative series into an alleged suburban LGBTQ pedophile ring near Atlanta, the criminal defense attorney representing the activist gay couple currently facing multiple life sentences for the violent, serial sexual abuse of their adopted 9- and 11-year-old sons has moved to withdraw as legal counsel for one of the married men.
Georgia-based lawyer John E. Haldi filed a motion on Jan. 19 requesting permission to withdraw as 35-year-old accused child rapist Zachary Zulock's counsel of record ahead of a motion hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning. The four-page motion says that Zachary, who has entered a plea of not guilty, is now seeking another attorney as the case is expected to head to trial.
As of this week, Haldi remains the attorney for Zachary's husband, 33-year-old William Zulock, who maintains in a series of jailhouse calls exclusively shared with Townhall that he had "no idea" and "didn't know" about "a lot of the stuff [that] went on."
Zachary initially blamed William for initiating the "routine" alleged child sexual abuse when he was interrogated by police following the July 27 armed raid on the Zulock mansion, Walton County's District Attorney Randy McGinley told the court in September.
The former Zulock family of four in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee | Zachary Zulock (Facebook)
McGinley submitted his own motions to sever the Zulocks, who are jointly indicted as co-defendants, at trial and subsequently disqualify Haldi due to an apparent conflict of interest. If severed and limited immunity is granted, Zachary and William can be called upon to testify against each other from the witness stand. It's a move that has left the marital partners in shambles.
"Walton County can go to HELL" for asserting that "we can't have the same lawyer or some BS like that," William, reacting to McGinley's motions, texted a family member from a digital tablet supplied in pre-trial detainment, as Part 4 of Townhall's investigation covered. "Hopefully [Haldi can represent] still both of us," William wrote through an inmate-messaging application. "It would be no point in having two lawyers doing the same thing [...] I think its the DA trying to part us from our lawyer," he added.
William Zulock's texts from Walton County Jail | inteleMESSAGE screenshots
Haldi informed Zachary that the court is likely to rule in the chief prosecutor's favor, according to new text messages he sent from Barrow County Detention Center. "How do I decide between you two?" Haldi asked Zachary during his last visit to the lock-up.
William had first retained Haldi with a $10,000 down payment and now his side of the family is stuck incurring the services fees that have amassed to approximately $50,000, the relative, who is speaking out to provide a voice for the children, told Townhall.
"figure id find me a public defender," Zachary told a different relative via a JailATM chat. "let haldi keep representing william so that no money is lost/wasted, so that we dont risk the judge dismissing haldi from both of us...I was trying to prevent a disaster..."
But the county's Indigent Defense Program determined that the co-defendants are ineligible for a court-appointed attorney in denial letters addressed to William and Zachary, where the latter's supposed $7,500-per-week income is the noted reason.
Indigent Defense Program denial letter addressed to William Zulock
Zachary has found a lawyer in the meantime who's willing to take on the case, but "he just can't get anyone to pay" for the legal representation, per another family member's knowledge. The wealthy couple's assets were swiftly seized after a judge signed off on a probable cause seizure warrant, and McGinley's office is additionally pursuing a civil complaint to forfeit the pair's property.
Wednesday's courtroom proceeding will take place before Judge Jeffrey L. Foster, the judge presiding over the Zulock case and all related matters, including the respective criminal cases for 27-year-old Hunter Lawless and 25-year-old Luis Vizcarro-Sanchez, whom the Zulocks allegedly solicited to engage in acts of prostitution with their older special-needs adopted son.
Two counts of human trafficking for sexual servitude have since been tacked on to the 17 other child sex crimes Zachary is accused of, according to an order requiring that he be temporarily transferred to Walton County Jail, where William is housed, for the upcoming court date. Both of the former adoptive fathers were already charged with two felony counts of prostituting a minor.
Stay tuned for Townhall's coverage as we closely follow the ongoing Zulock case.
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