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Samantha Woll trial: Mistrial declared
After several days of deliberations, the jury in the trial of Michael Jackson-Bolanos was hopelessly deadlocked, forcing a mistrial to be declared.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The deliberations in the trial of Michael Jackson-Bolanos, the man charged with killing prominent Jewish leader Samantha Woll, are over after five days with the jury finding him guilty on one of the charges, not guilty on a third, and deadlocked on murder.
The jury sent a note after lunch saying they were still deadlocked on two of the four charges. The jury is deadlocked on both the murder charge and home invasion and found guilty of lying to police. The jury also found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of pre-meditated murder.
Word of the jury reaching the verdict came in on Thursday, a week after the jury received the trial.
Judge Margaret Van Houten declared a mistrial on the murder charge and set a hearing for July 25.
The jury spent five days discussing the details of the trial and told the judge they were deadlocked – yet urged to continue deliberating.
The jury began deliberations last week after more than 4 weeks of testimony in the case against Jackson-Bolanos, who was on trial for first-degree murder, home invasion, and lying to a peace officer. Woll was found stabbed to death outside her Detroit home last October.
Jackson-Bolanos was charged with first-degree murder, home invasion, and lying to a peace officer after Woll was found stabbed to death outside her Detroit home last October.
During the trial, 29-year-old Jackson-Bolanos took the stand and testified that he did lie to police but insisted that he didn't kill Woll. According to his testimony, he was breaking into vehicles around Woll's neighborhood when he found her body. He said he touched the body, realized she was dead, and left instead of calling 911 because he was committing a crime and had a criminal history.
When police arrested Jackson-Bolanos and questioned him about finding the body, he lied.
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Emotional closing arguments in trial of Michael Jackson-Bolanos in Samantha Woll murder
The prosecution told jurors that surveillance video shows Jackson-Bolanos near Woll's home at the time of the crime and that the defendant himself admits he's a liar and a thief.
"I stated that I did touch the body. I was telling the truth. I'm here today, sworn and affirmed, to tell the truth," Jackson-Bolanos said. "I may have lied in the past, but today I'm telling the truth; last week – telling the truth."
Trace amounts of Woll's blood were later found on Jackson-Bolanos's jacket.
"He's got her blood on multiple areas of his clothing and on the backpack that he's wearing that night - that is a coincidence that he cannot overcome," said Ryan Elsey, assistant prosecutor.
The prosecution told jurors that surveillance video shows Jackson-Bolanos near Woll's home at the time of the crime and that the defendant himself admits he's a liar and a thief.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos maintains he did not kill Woll during testimony, admits lying to police
During cross-examination on Monday, Michael Jackson-Bolanos maintained that he did not kill Samantha Woll, but admitted to lying to police about coming across her body the night of her fatal stabbing.
However, Jackson-Bolanos's defense argued that he had blood on his jacket from coming across the body, not from stabbing her. Defense attorney Brian Brown said Woll's ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Herbstman, was the killer, not his client.
"This was a deliberate act - a crime of passion," Brown said. "He's innocent. It's not just that the prosecution hasn't proved their burden - it's that there's so much other evidence that would suggest another individual committed this particular murder."
A few weeks after Woll's murder, Herbstman called police in a fit of hysteria and said he killed her. However, he later recanted that confession and was released when police were unable to tie him to the crime.
"The accusations they've made against Jeff Herbstman are unsupported," Elsey said. "We are accusing the defendant of murder and we backed it up with serious evidence.