OXFORD, Georgia — More than two years after authorities arrested LGBTQ activist Zachary Jacoby Zulock, one-half of the self-described "partners in crime" charged with a slew of child sex crimes they performed on their elementary-aged sons, he partially pleaded out this week and was tried within a matter of minutes on the remaining charges.
Zachary — the cameraman filming the abuse and distributing the "homemade" child pornography — was originally charged with incest, aggravated anal and oral sodomy, aggravated child molestation resulting in serious injury of the child, sexual exploitation of children, and pandering for persons under the age of 18.
Zachary Zulock's mugshot | Walton County Sheriff's Office
He was also the operation's point of contact soliciting nearby pedophiles in the Atlanta-area suburbs to engage in sexual acts with their two adopted children.
His husband, William Dale Zulock, who pleaded guilty in August, was lined up to testify against him under a limited immunity grant. Spousal privilege, which the defense unsuccessfully attempted to invoke, does not apply in Georgia child abuse cases.
However, on the eve of Tuesday's long-awaited trial, Zachary pled guilty Monday morning to all of crimes alleged in the sprawling 17-count indictment, except for the two incest charges (Counts 4 and 11), which were ruled on by the judge overseeing the proceedings in a brief bench trial later that day, and two of the sodomy allegations.
Counts 1 and 3: Aggravated Sodomy (including anal and oral) of the younger child were dropped against Zachary based partly on "the relative strength of the evidence as to these specific counts." Counts 5 and 7: Aggravated Sodomy (including anal and oral) of the older child were downgraded to "lesser included" offenses. As to Count 14: Sexual Exploitation, Zachary only admitted to "creation" and "possession" of the material depicting the younger child's abuse, not "distribution" of it.
For a few of those charges (Count 6: Aggravated Sodomy for forcing the older child to perform oral sex; Counts 16 and 17: Child Prostitution), he entered what's known as an "Alford plea," in which the defendant still asserts his innocence while also acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt; it's neither a full admission of guilt nor innocence. This type of guilty plea is a defense tactic that allows the defendant to avoid trial without actually admitting to committing the crime.
Zachary Zulock pleading guilty on October 21, 2024 | Townhall Media
Addressing the proposed Alford pleas, Judge Jeffrey Foster said that the legal issue concerning Count 6 is "the specificity of when that occurred versus the age of the child" victim.
As for the child prostitution charges, the legal argument revolved around an "exchange of value."
"There's no allegation of monetary value," Foster noted, "but there is some evidence that one can find non-monetary value."
Foster asked Zachary if he concedes that the evidence against him is sufficient and adequate in that "there would be a substantial likelihood that a jury would convict you on those offenses."
"Yes, it's possible," Zachary replied.
"'Cause that's the standard for an Alford plea," Foster explained, "as 'I'm not saying I'm guilty, but I recognize the evidence as such that there's a significant likelihood that I could be convicted at trial. And therefore, I want to take advantage of any consideration I might get for taking responsibility and disposing of the case.' Does that accurately describe your position...?"
A despondent Zachary, wearing a Walton County Jail jumper, agreed. "Yes, sir."
Foster subsequently accepted Zachary's assortment of "straight" and Alford pleas, the latter of which, "for all intents and purposes, acts as a guilty plea legally," he said. The judge concurred that invoking Alford is "in your best interest to dispose of this [case] with a plea and receive any credit that you might receive for having accepted responsibility." He noted that this spares the victims from having to testify and the jurors of Walton County from having to mull over the evidence.
The court then held a "stipulated" bench trial at the end of the hearing regarding the incest charges.
The "stipulations" meant both sides already agreed to a set of facts; those were not in dispute, as Zachary did indeed admit that he sodomized the two children he locally adopted. Whereas the contention surrounded the statutory requirements that define the crime of incest: i.e. whether both boys were — in the eyes of the law — children of the offender by blood or marriage.
Zachary's court-appointed public defender, Reginald Winfrey, argued that the phrase "by adoption" was not yet codified into the state statute at the time that the Zulocks were indicted in 2022. The state conceded that is true since Georgia's GOP-sponsored bill amending the criminal code on incest, S.B. 335 a.k.a. "Safeguarding Adopted Children from Sexual Violence Act," which expanded the state's definition of incest to include an adoptive relationship, didn't become law until this year.
A photograph from the judge's chambers on the day the Zulocks officially adopted both boys | Zachary Zulock (Facebook)
However, the prosecution cited long-standing case law stating that the act of adoption establishes a parental relationship. Assistant district attorney Lacey Majors also pointed to the portion of Georgia law defining domestic relations, specifically a "decree of adoption." In effect, it creates a legal relationship "as if the adopted individual were a child of biological issue of that petitioner," according to the legal language. "That language is included in every adoption decree," Majors said.
Meanwhile, Winfrey cited Smith v. State, a 2011 rape case involving two adopted siblings (not blood-related). In that case, the court determined that incest was not actually committed because the victim was not the defendant's half- or step-sister. Majors said that, accordingly, the Smith case entails "a completely separate issue."
Still, in the Smith appeal, the court upheld that an adopted child is protected under the law, citing Edmonson v. State, a 1995 appellate case involving incest between a father and his adopted 13-year-old daughter. Case law "lays out that this is the same relationship [...] because you are taking on that role. As an adoptive parent, you are now stepping into the shoes of the biological parent," Majors said.
"Just because you are not biologically related, you did step in as the role of that parent or that caretaker of the person who is now supposed to protect that child," Majors concluded, "and committing a sexual act with that child is incestuous."
Winfrey, venturing further, relied heavily on the fact that the state legislature, in turn, acted to add adoption to the incest statute in 2024 to clarify, explicitly state, and ensure that adoption is statutorily covered. "Once Smith was passed, there was a question of whether adoption was included within the term and language of the statute. In this case, [the Zulocks] were indicted in '22 before the legislature actually corrected the issue."
Countering, Foster pointed to Pyburn v. State, an earlier 2009 case that failed to appeal an incest conviction, in which the higher court affirmed that the defendant incestuously impregnated his adopted teenage daughter. Foster said Pyburn was cited "approvingly" in Smith. "Adoptive children enjoy the rights and privileges of a biological child, including protection from incest," Foster said, quoting the ruling in Pyburn.
Ultimately, Foster found that the Zulock case does fall under incest based upon the statutory definition of incest, the statutory establishment of a parent-child relationship via adoption, and the holdings in Pyburn and Edmonson as well as the approving citation in Smith.
"The court would find Mr. Zulock guilty of the offenses of incest," Foster ruled.
If he had gone to trial on the entirety of the initial indictment and been found guilty, Zachary could have received a maximum of nine life sentences plus 180 years in prison.
Zachary, 37, now faces up to four life sentences and 220 years behind bars.
He and William, 35, will both be sentenced at an evidentiary hearing in December. Their sentencing is scheduled for the morning of Dec. 19.
There, they will present "mitigating" evidence — circumstantial factors that the defense will argue lessen their perceived culpability, like a mental illness, history of abuse, or if the defendant played a relatively minor role in the crimes committed.
According to court records reviewed by Townhall, William has requested a psychosexual evaluation "in order to arrive at a just sentence."
William Zulock's mugshot | Walton County Sheriff's Office
The state customarily makes a stronger sentencing recommendation while the defense will offer an alternative that's typically a more lenient, reduced punishment. However, the latter will have to convince the court to shorten their impending imprisonment.
After hearing arguments, the presiding judge ultimately determines their sentences. The court could sentence them to more or less than either party is asking for so long as it's within the minimum and maximum allowed under state law.
The mandatory minimum is 25 years to life, given the sentences run concurrently. This technically means a life sentence, with the first 25 years in confinement followed by life on probation. In that event, they could be freed as middle-aged men.
Walton County District Attorney Randy McGinley caveated that the court can sentence above the 25-year threshold and hand down a definitive number of years in incarceration without the possibility of parole. "I don't know if there's a legally decided limit on that," the DA added.
"I would not imagine that I could exceed the 30 year[s] on a life sentence," Foster said.
"Case law says you can," McGinley continued.
In addition to William, the prosecution had two other inmates queued up as witnesses: clients of the Zulocks, whom Zachary had contacted over Grindr, a gay hook-up app. Hunter Clay Lawless, the informant who snitched on the Zulocks, and Luis Vizcarro-Sanchez were swiftly captured, charged, and convicted on child sexual exploitation and solicitation charges, respectively.
The prosecution planned on meeting with the pair of prisoners prior to Tuesday's trial. However, during a pre-trial hearing held at the beginning of the month, prosecutors mentioned that authorities were unable to transport Vizcarro-Sanchez, who's serving his sentence in Rogers State Prison, roughly a three-hour drive away, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
This summer, William pled guilty to all 15 counts, including incest, alleged in the grand jury indictment minus the child prostitution charges, which the state decided to drop because Zachary was the one "reaching out to those individuals."
Before William's guilty plea, the married men were jointly indicted as co-defendants. The court then severed them, necessitating separate trials and different defense attorneys for each defendant. William retained the couple's legal counsel already on hand, thanks to his side of the family footing the legal fees. That left Zachary with Winfrey, courtesy of the court.
Zachary (left) and William (right) Zulock pictured together | Zachary Zulock (Instagram)
The prosecution expected the now-nixed trial to last three days, given the amount and length of recordings that would've been played for the court.
Ahead of the Oct. 3 status conference, when Foster asked about the defense's whereabouts, the prosecution mentioned that Zachary was "electing to read every report and then watch every video," adding, "I understand he's reading quite slowly."
Afterward, McGinley informed the court that Zachary has signed a form waiving his right to a jury trial, indicating he wanted a bench trial instead wherein the judge decides the verdict as opposed to 12 jurors.
Zachary Zulock waiving his right to a jury trial at a status conference on October 3, 2024 | Townhall Media
Winfrey also announced that the defense would not be cross-examining the children, whom the Zulocks had adopted through a special-needs adoption agency, on the witness stand and accordingly agreed to the admissibility of the forensic interviews ("child hearsay statements") that both boys gave the investigators upon rescue:
"My client is waiving his constitutional rights to confront the witnesses as it relates to the minor children, and that [with] any particular child hearsay that the state offers, there will be no objection from my client to that testimony, but only as it relates to the two children."
Foster stipulated that the children "at least have to be available" to testify in person. However, "that doesn't mean they have to be here," he added.
"So I just wanted to make clear it might not just be the forensic [interviews]," McGinley interjected. "There may be others. Any statements that they made about the abuse to anybody falls under child hearsay."
The biological brothers, ages 6 and 8 at the time the years-long sexual abuse started, are back in foster care. A year-and-a-half apart in age, they're now 11- and 12-years-old.
The Zulock "family" on vacation in 2019 | William Zulock (Instagram)
"Our business is our business. What happens in our home, stays in our home," the men told the boys. They threatened them each time they left the house, demanding that they not tell anyone about the abuse or "there would be consequences."
According to court documents obtained by Townhall, the children were "routinely" raped "at least once a week" and cried out while being abused, but their adoptive fathers would walk them through "how to handle the pain."
The older child, who sustained physical injuries from being brutally raped, told police that Zachary would be in bed recording when William was abusing him. Detectives found a folder, labeled "US," on Zachary's iPhone storing the child porn. "I'm going to f**k my son tonight," Zachary bragged to the co-conspirators charged in connection with the pedophile ring, instructing them to "Stand by." On Snapchat, he'd send messages describing "what he would do to his son," according to investigators in the Walton County Sheriff's Office. All of it — every assault — was captured by their home security cameras, positioned all over the premises and taping nonstop.
The Zulocks attempted to challenge the charging instrument, arguing that the timespan of the alleged abuse was too "expansive," "broad," and "practically impossible" to prepare a defense, including raising an alibi. But the move requesting specific dates unwittingly sparked a forensic investigation into the couple's 24/7 surveillance system installed in their home.
Four terabytes of data were extracted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI)'s crime lab, and in accordance, the mountain of evidence inclined the state to charge the couple with each instance of abuse that investigators found in the footage. Based on what was discovered in that extraction, prosecutors contemplated tacking on "hundreds" of additional counts to a wider-ranging re-indictment, if the defense didn't drop the request for narrowed-down dates of when exactly the crimes were committed.
A TV transmitting a live feed from inside the Zulock residence | Zachary Zulock (Facebook Messenger)
Since the outset of the conspiracy case, Zachary has repeatedly tried to strike a plea deal with the district attorney's office, but to no avail, even after going to extreme lengths, such as secretly sending associates on the outside a "love" letter containing legal instructions and attempting to contact the DA directly out of increasing desperation.
"I want an ankle monitor, and if required, a low bond," Zachary once demanded of McGinley.
William is hoping to get out on the early end. According to conversations with family, William is already asking around about the status of his car, which the state seized along with the rest of the couple's property in a midnight raid.
Zachary confessed to sending the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to "less than a dozen" pedophiles. McGinley indicated in court that there are other potential suspects "out there" still under investigation. Those persons of interest are allegedly continuing to circulate videos that Zachary produced of the abuse.
For those who knew — or thought they knew — the Zulocks, the case's anticlimactic end leaves in its wake more questions than answers that a public trial could have provided in open court.
"It's frustrating not to have closure or an actual real conversation face-to-face to try to understand how the little boy I knew turned into this sick monster," remarked a close relative of Zachary who had considerably helped Townhall's coverage of the case. "Part of me wants swift and real prison justice and another part of me hopes the soul of that boy doesn't burn in hell for eternity. It's a tragedy for all four of their lives."
"The anger and fury over two years has smoldered into a feeling of failure and helplessness that I couldn't do more for the boys," the family member said of the abused children. "I'm also infuriated at the mainstream media for burying the story to protect the alphabet mafia."
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