Samantha Woll murder: Michael Jackson-Bolanos jury deadlocked, mistrial declared on murder charge
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The jury in the trial of Michael Jackson-Bolanos is hopelessly deadlocked on two of the four charges after five days of deliberations.
In a split decision, the jury said they were unable to reach a verdict on two charges – murder and home invasion. The jury found him not guilty of pre-meditated murder while finding him guilty of lying to police.
Jackson-Bolanos had been on trial since mid-June for the murder of Jewish leader Samantha Woll.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten dismissed the jury and then addressed what would happen next – setting a pre-trial hearing for July 25th. Prosecutors will discuss whether they want to pursue the deadlocked charges of felony murder and home invasion.
After the partial verdict, Jackson-Bolanos’s attorney, Brian Brown, said he does not consider this a victory, but more of a push.
While slightly frustrated, "I still feel kind of optimistic that at the end of the day the truth will prevail," Brown told FOX 2.
Brown believes there’s enough reasonable doubt to exonerate his client.
A week ago, the prosecution and defense each presented their final arguments and the jury received the case and began deliberations.
The jury of 12 men and women began meeting last Tuesday, July 9. By Tuesday of this week, they had not reached a verdict and told Van Houten they were deadlocked. During the process, an alternate juror was brought in and Van Houten urged the jury to continue discussions.
"We don't want to give up quite yet," she said this week.
Van Houten said, if they still couldn't reach a verdict by Thursday afternoon, she would accept the deadlock and declare a mistrial.
Woll was stabbed inside of her Detroit home last October and was able to crawl outside where she was later found dead. During the trial, 29-year-old Jackson-Bolanos took the stand and testified that he had lied 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 admitted that 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.
"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."