Henson Says He Will Tell The Jury 2010 Robocalls Were Not His Responsibility
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- The man on trial for the now infamous 2010 Election Night robocall tells WJZ he will testify in his own defense.
Derek Valcourt has an exclusive interview with political consultant Julius Henson.
Henson says he wants to set the record straight and the let the jury hear from him firsthand about what happened on Election Day.
Derek: "Will you take the stand in your own defense?"
Henson: "Yes, I will take the stand, probably starting tomorrow."
Henson awaits his turn to tell jurors about the robocall he wrote for the campaign of Republican Bob Ehrlich. The robocall sparked controversy by telling 112,000 registered Democrats before polls closed on Election Night that there was no need to vote because Democrat Martin O'Malley was already winning.
The robocall said: "Relax. Everything is fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight."
That robocall already earned a criminal conviction for Ehrlich's campaign manager Paul Schurick because the message did not contain the legally required authority line indicating it was paid for by the Ehrlich campaign. The state prosecutor says that amounts to election fraud. Henson says he'll tell the jury that's not his fault.
Derek: "What is it that you hope to convince them?"
Henson: "We are going to convince them that the call was not my responsibility. The auto call that's in question was not my responsibility. It was outside the scope of an adviser. And as a matter of fact, I advised the campaign to use the authority line. They chose not to."
The prosecution has rested. Henson calls the prosecutor's case thin. The defense has begun calling character witnesses to speak about Henson's truthfulness ahead of his anticipated testimony on Friday.
The jury is expected to begin deliberating the case next week.
