2020 Election Robocall Defendants Won’t Testify at April Trial, They Tell Court

Defendants Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman won’t be testifying at trial on their roles in the robocall campaign to suppress Black citizens' mail-in votes in the run-up to the 2020 election (see 2312040022) said their response Monday (docket 1:20-cv-08668) to Friday’s order from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff for Southern New York in Manhattan instructing them to disclose their intentions. Wohl and Burkman never responded to the plaintiffs’ March 1 motion in limine to compel them to disclose whether they plan to appear at trial. Their response Monday in the negative precludes them now from appearing, according to Rakoff’s order. Had they responded in the affirmative, they would have been required to make themselves available for the plaintiffs’ April 1 depositions, said the order. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, Rakoff’s predecessor on the case, granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs a year ago (see 2303090003), and the jury trial that opens April 15 is to assess damages.