Court of Appeals Upholds Attorney General’s Criminal Charges in Voter Intimidation Robocall Case

LANSING – Friday, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the criminal charges against Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl and affirmed the Circuit Court’s denial of defendants’ motion to quash, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. In its opinion, the Court of Appeals found there was sufficient evidence presented at the preliminary examination to show that the robocall issued by defendants was intentionally false, was related to the procedures of voting, and was made in an attempt to deter voters from participating in the election. These were the three questions the Michigan Supreme Court directed the Court of Appeals to address on remand, to discern if the criminal charges were filed appropriately under the state law criminalizing voter intimidation.  

“Voter intimidation infringes upon the fundamental right to vote,” said Nessel. “I am grateful the Court of Appeals saw this conduct for what it was—a gross misrepresentation of voting procedures meant to scare voters from participating in our elections. We look forward to continuing with the criminal case and bringing this matter to trial.” 

In June, the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) ruled that the law prohibiting voter intimidation rightly prohibits intentional false speech related to voting requirements or procedures if that speech is made in an attempt to deter or influence a vote. In doing so, the MSC provided a narrowing construction of the statute and ordered the Court of Appeals (COA) to review whether the conduct at issue met the standards set therein of being intentionally false speech, related to voting requirements or procedures, and made in an attempt to deter or influence and elector’s vote. On Friday, the COA ruled that the evidence presented at the preliminary examination supported a finding that the conduct did meet each of those elements as defined in the MSC’s applicable interpretation.  

Writing for the majority, Judge Anica Letica said, “There can be no reasonable dispute that voting by mail is a voting procedure. That is, voting by mail is ‘a particular way of accomplishing’ voting, which fits the definition of ‘procedure.’  The robocall was related to the procedure because it alleged that, if a voter used the voting procedure identified, certain negative events ‘will’ occur.  Those events involved a creation of a database that ‘will be’ accessed by police and credit card companies to track down warrants and debts.” 

Attorney General Nessel filed charges in the 36th District Court in Detroit in October of 2020 against Burkman and Wohl for allegedly orchestrating a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote of predominantly black voters in Detroit in the 2020 general election by promoting falsehoods that:  

1. voting by mail would place voters’ personal information in a public database that will be used by police departments to track down individuals with outstanding warrants;
2. voting by mail would place voters’ personal information in a public database that will be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts; and
3. the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were attempting to utilize vote by mail records to track individuals for mandatory vaccines.

The robocall named Burkman and Wohl as responsible for the calls and claimed them to be the founders of a “civil rights organization” named ‘Project 1599’. It closed with a message urging the predominantly Black recipients to not be “finessed into giving your private information to the man. Stay safe and beware of vote by mail.” The Attorney General has called the robocall an egregious example of voter suppression. 

Jack Burkman, 57, and Jacob Wohl, 25, are each charged with:    

• One count of election law – bribing/intimidating voters, a five-year felony;
• One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a five-year felony;
• One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a seven-year felony; and
• Using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a seven-year felony.

The People allege Burkman, an Arlington, Virginia resident, and Wohl, a Los Angeles, California resident, attempted to discourage voters from participating in the general election by creating and funding a robocall targeting specific and multiple urban areas across the country, including Detroit. The calls were made in late August of 2020 and went out to nearly 12,000 residents with phone numbers from the 313 area code.  

Following the formal charges from the Attorney General, both men were bound over for trial. Burkman and Wohl filed a motion to quash the charges in the Circuit Court. The Court denied this motion, and the defendants appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals declined to hear their appeal. Burkman and Wohl then filed an application in the Michigan Supreme Court, which remanded the matter to the Court of Appeals and required they hear the appeal. The Court of Appeals heard the defendants’ arguments and denied their motion, ruling in a published opinion that the statute fits and criminalizes their conduct and that it is a constitutional application of the statute. Defendants Burkman and Wohl then appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court of Michigan, which upheld the application of the law and remanded the matter to the Court of Appeals to determine whether the conduct at issue here was intentionally false speech that was related to voting requirements or procedures and was made in an attempt to deter Black voters in Detroit.   

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the robocall.    

Click here to view a copy of Burkman and Wohl’s charging documents (PDF).