Jury finds suspect not guilty of first-degree murder of Detroit synagogue leader, deadlocked on other charges
A Michigan jury on Thursday found Michael Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2023 fatal stabbing of Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll.
The jury found Jackson-Bolanos guilty of lying to police and were deadlocked on felony murder, a murder committed during another crime, and home invasion charges.
The suspect may be retried on the deadlocked counts and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, FOX 2 reported.
"I guess they felt that it was not a premeditation as far as the murder, but they were deadlocked on whether there was a felony, which incorporates the home invasion, first-degree," Jackson-Bolanos’ attorney Brian Brown told FOX 2.
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He added that "the truth will come out. The truth will set him free."
Brown said he felt "frustrated" but "optimistic" for his client.
The jury revealed they were deadlocked on the two charges on Thursday after beginning deliberations on July 9, during which one of the jurors was released and an alternate was brought in.
On Tuesday, jurors said they were deadlocked on the charges, but the judge asked them to keep deliberating until Thursday, saying she would declare a mistrial if they were still deadlocked then.
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Jackson-Bolanos was accused of stabbing Woll to death in her home last October.
Prosecutors said that her blood was found on his jacket. While testifying in his own defense, Jackson-Bolanos said that he had been breaking into cars that night and touched her body after finding it outside, but had nothing to do with the murder.
He admitted to lying to police when he was questioned about the murder and testified that he didn’t report finding her body because he was committing a crime at the time.
Woll was stabbed inside her home, but crawled outside where she died.
"I stated that I did touch the body," he testified, according to FOX 2. "I was telling the truth. I'm here today, sworn and affirmed, to tell the truth. I may have lied in the past, but today I'm telling the truth; last week – telling the truth."
His defense has thrown speculation on Woll’s ex-boyfriend who called police a few weeks after the murder to say he thought he had killed her, but he later recanted that, saying he was under the influence of medication at the time, and testified for the prosecution with immunity. Police didn’t find any links between her ex and the murder.
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"The accusations they've made against Jeff Herbstman are unsupported," assistant prosecutor Ryan Elsey said, referring to Woll’s ex, according to FOX 2. "We are accusing the defendant of murder and we backed it up with serious evidence."