A 71-year-old man who falsely claimed to have shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a campus assassination investigation has been sentenced and now faces up to 15 years in prison on unrelated charges, authorities said Friday.
George Zinn pleaded no contest to a third-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice for falsely claiming responsibility for the fatal shooting at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
During the chaotic moments after the shooting, Zinn had approached investigators and proclaimed, “I shot him — now shoot me,” before later admitting the claim was untrue and that he had not been involved in the attack.
In addition to the obstruction count, Zinn also pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor after authorities found explicit images of children on his phone during the investigation, court records show.
He faces up to 15 years for each of the sexual exploitation charges and up to five years for obstruction, with actual prison time to be determined by a parole board, Breitbart News reported.
After Kirk was shot, Zinn screamed, “I shot him. Now shoot me!” several times. Once Zinn had been “taken to the police station,” he admitted that he lied “to draw attention from the real shooter.”
Authorities later arrested Tyler Robinson, 22, and charged him with the murder of Kirk; Robinson faces multiple serious charges, including aggravated murder.
Officials said Zinn’s sentencing comes as part of a broader effort to hold individuals accountable for crimes uncovered during the high-profile investigation into Kirk’s assassination.
Updates on Robinson’s case remain pending as the legal process continues.
Attorneys for Robinson formally objected last week to prosecutors introducing and publicly displaying a graphic video of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at an upcoming pretrial hearing, arguing the footage is irrelevant to the legal issue before the court and risks prejudicing potential jurors.
In a nine-page filing submitted Jan. 27, Robinson’s defense team opposed the State of Utah’s request to play a close-up color video with audio that captures moments before, during, and after Kirk was shot, Fox News reported.
The objection was filed ahead of a Feb. 3 evidentiary hearing on Robinson’s motion to disqualify the Utah County Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the case due to an alleged conflict of interest.
The defense argues the hearing has nothing to do with the cause of Kirk’s death or Robinson’s guilt or innocence.
Instead, attorneys say the hearing is narrowly focused on whether a family member of a prosecutor personally witnessed events at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, creating an actual or apparent conflict of interest.
According to the filing, prosecutors have already submitted still photographs and diagrams showing Kirk’s location and the proximity of witnesses, which Robinson does not oppose.
Defense attorneys argue those materials are sufficient to address the limited factual questions relevant to the disqualification motion.
They claim the video has no probative value in determining whether the prosecution team should be disqualified.
The filing further argues that even if the court finds minimal relevance, the footage should be excluded under Rule 403 due to the danger of unfair prejudice.
The defense describes the video as “graphic and likely highly disturbing.”
Attorneys warn that if the footage is played in open court, it could be immediately broadcast nationally and internationally.
They argue such exposure would jeopardize Robinson’s constitutional right to a fair trial in what they note is a capital case.
“This is the most momentous judgment a jury can be asked to make,” the defense wrote, citing a prior Utah Supreme Court ruling emphasizing the need to keep capital proceedings free from bias and prejudice.