Two far-right activists pleaded no contest Friday to charges that they ran a robocall operation designed to deter Black voters in Detroit from casting ballots in the 2020 election.
John Burkman and Jacob Wohl, both of Virginia, had appealed their case to the Michigan Supreme Court on two separate occasions — arguing that their robocalls were constitutionally protected free speech. The high court declined to consider their second appeal in June.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement that Burkman, 59, and Wohl, 27, created and funded “a robocall targeting specific and multiple urban areas across the country, including Detroit.”
The calls made less than three months before the 2020 general election “went out to nearly 12,000 residents with phone numbers registered to an address with a Detroit zip code,” Nessel said.
They were designed specifically to deter would-be Detroit voters from casting ballots by mail, the attorney general’s office said.
The calls falsely claimed that mailing a ballot would place voters’ personal information in databases used by police departments to track down people with outstanding warrants and credit card companies to collect outstanding debts.
Burkman and Wohl pleaded no contest to four felonies:
- Bribing or intimidating voters
- Conspiracy to commit an election law violation
- Using a computer to bribe or intimidate voters
- Using a computer to conspire to commit an election law violation
A no-contest plea means the defendants don't admit guilt but forego a trial and accept their punishment.
Burkman and Wohl are scheduled to be sentenced in Wayne County on December 1.
The two have already been sentenced in similar cases in other jurisdictions. A federal court required them to make “curative” calls to correct the misinformation. An Ohio judge ordered them to spend 500 hours registering people to vote. And a New York judge approved a settlement fining Burkman and Wohl more than $1 million.
