A murder case against a man accused of killing a beloved Detroit synagogue leader has been dropped entirely.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, had been accused of fatally stabbing Samantha Woll, 40, at her home in October 2023. Last month, Jackson-Bolanos was acquitted on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder, but the jury deadlocked on charges of felony murder and home invasion.
Judge Margaret Van Houten ruled Friday that retrying Jackson-Bolanos on the felony murder charge would constitute double jeopardy, violating his Fifth Amendment rights.
He won’t walk free, however.
The jury convicted him on a charge of lying to police, and he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars, with credit for around 240 days served.
Woll was found fatally stabbed outside her home on Oct. 21, 2023, and many feared she was the victim of an antisemitic attack two weeks after Hamas attacked Israel.
Police said they found no evidence Woll was the victim of a hate crime. Jackson-Bolanos was arrested about two months later, after security cameras and cellphone data put him in the area of Woll’s home at the time of the crime.
According to Jackson-Bolanos, he was neaby looking for unlocked cars to break into when he came across Woll’s body. Jackson-Bolanos said he touched her body and then ran away. At trial, he testified in his own defense and was asked to explain those actions.
“I didn’t know whether she had fallen outside or was drunk. Me as a person — yeah, I am out doing wrong — I still wanted to make sure that this person was OK,” he told the court. “When I realized she was dead, I wanted nothing to do with the entire situation. I’m a Black guy in the middle of the night breaking into cars and I find myself standing in front of a dead white woman. That doesn’t look good at all.”
Prosecutors promised to appeal Van Houten’s decision to drop the additional murder charge.
About a month before Jackson-Bolanos was arrested, another man, Jeffrey Herbstman, told police he may have killed Woll. He said he was her former boyfriend, but cops said he made the call in a medication-induced panic attack.
With News Wire Services
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