DETROIT – The jury will resume deliberations Monday in the trial for Michael Jackson-Bolanos, who is charged with murdering Samantha Woll.
Jackson-Bolanos, 29, is facing the possibility of life in prison if he’s found guilty of first-degree murder.
What happened
Woll, 40, was a well-known leader in Detroit’s Jewish community and the board president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit.
Police said Woll returned to her home in Lafayette Park around 12:30 a.m. Oct. 21, 2023, after a wedding. They believe she was stabbed during the early morning hours inside her home before stumbling outside.
There were no signs of forced entry at her house, and her wallet and phone were not stolen.
A witness found her outside around 6:30 a.m. and called officials. They pronounced her dead from multiple stab wounds.
Jury deadlocked last week
On Friday, July 12, after two days of deliberations, the jury members indicated that they’re struggling to reach a verdict.
On one hand, prosecutors argue Jackson-Bolanos was in the area Woll’s home when she was murdered. They said he was in her parking lot and committing auto theft crimes.
Video shows Jackson-Bolanos putting on blue gloves on his way into Woll’s area, and her blood was later found on his jacket and backpack.
Jackson-Bolanos has admitted that he lied about the events of that night. Prosecutors claim he lied more than 40 times to police.
The defense said Jackson-Bolanos saw Woll’s body and touched her, which is why her blood was on his clothing.
Defense attorney Brian Brown argued that there’s no evidence Jackson-Bolanos went inside Woll’s apartment. He said this murder was clearly a crime of passion, not the work of a petty thief.
Woll’s ex-boyfriend, Jeffery Herbstman, previously “confessed” to the murder, but was given immunity to testify after being cleared of any crimes. He said the confession came during a mental breakdown.
What’s next
The judge read the instructions for a deadlocked jury last week and urged them to listen to each other and to be open to changing their minds if they believe they can.
“It could be one juror who is just being inconsistent and dug in,” said Local 4 legal expert Neil Rockind. “There’s reasonable doubt all over the place. There’s another person that walked into a police department and said he was worried that he had done something and couldn’t account for himself. And that is a very, very bizarre thing to say. That, to me, is a case that’s rife with reasonable doubt.”