DETROIT – Thursday is likely the last day of the Samantha Woll murder trial, whether the jury can come to an agreement or not.
Shawn Ley here from courtroom 504 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Downtown Detroit.
The jury in the murder trial of Michael Jackson-Bolanos, accused of stabbing Woll to death, began its fifth day of deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Today is likely the last day of this trial. The jury has signaled to Judge Margaret Van Houten that they remain deadlocked on whether Jackson-Bolanos is guilty of felony murder, first-degree murder, home invasion, and lying to police.
They’re deadlocked even after an alternate juror joined deliberations Tuesday, taking the place of Juror No. 3, who had a pre-planned vacation.
On Tuesday, the jurors were instructed to begin deliberations from the beginning because of the alternate juror. They did not reach a verdict and remained deadlocked.
Van Houten told the jury to come back Thursday for one last try at reaching a verdict.
So, we wait.
The jury could come back with verdicts, or remain deadlocked. Nobody knows when that might happen Thursday.
The president of the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association, Lillian Diallo, told me in an interview late Tuesday that the time has come -- or even passed -- for the judge to declare a mistrial.
She told me Thursday morning that this case is troubling because sending the jury back for a fifth day could coerce a verdict. She said a mistrial should have been called after the jury remained deadlocked on Tuesday.