Samantha Woll killing: Defendant is innocent 'without a shadow of a doubt,' attorneys say

Defense attorneys for Michael Jackson-Bolanos, the man accused of killing beloved Detroit Jewish leader and political activist Samantha Woll, have taken the rare legal move of starting a petition to convince prosecutors to let their client go.

The petition lists three demands: Stop the retrial of Jackson-Bolanos, dismiss the remaining charges against him and release him from jail.

Last week, after five days of deliberations, a jury wasn’t convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson-Bolanos was the killer: The jury found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder, convicted him of lying to police, but deadlocked on two other charges, felony murder and home invasion.

He may face a retrial on those two remaining charges. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for noon Thursday, where the prosecution could decide to move forward with a retrial or possibly drop the remaining charges.

Purna Krishnamoorthy, a defense attorney for Jackson-Bolanos in the case that has been both complex and emotional, said she believes in her client's innocence "without a shadow of a doubt."

And the petition, which as of Wednesday afternoon had amassed over 370 signatures , is an attempt to show Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy that there are hundreds of people who also believe in Jackson-Bolanos' innocence, she said.

"I think that the prosecutor's office needs to understand that while they feel like what they're doing, going after justice and doing what is needed to keep the community safe — they're not," said Krishnamoorthy.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Krishnamoorthy said the timeline alone that the prosecution presented during trial is enough to prove her client's innocence.

According to court and police records, motion was last detected in Woll's home at 4:20 a.m. the day she was killed, Oct. 21, 2023. About four minutes later, Jackson-Bolanos was seen on video a quarter-mile away from Woll's home, crossing the Monroe Street bridge over I-375.

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"Michael Jackson-Bolanos would have to be superman on speed," to have struggled with Woll in her home, stabbing her multiple times, and then fleeing the scene," Krishnamoorthy said. "It's not humanly possible."

Prosecutors allege that Jackson-Bolanos, 29, fatally stabbed Woll eight times after breaking into her home. During a lengthy trial that began in June, the prosecution showed numerous videos of Jackson-Bolanos in the area of Woll’s home breaking into cars the night she was killed.

They argued Jackson-Bolanos, who is a habitual offender, had a motive to kill Woll: He knew he was facing 25 years in prison if he got caught for another crime. So he killed her, the prosecution argued, and then lied to police about it.

According to police, Jackson-Bolanos was the only one spotted near the crime scene that night, and he admitted to being there and touching Woll's body, but only after lying more than 40 times about his actions that night.

But the defense has been extremely adamant about Jackson-Bolanos’ innocence. The suspect took the rare step of testifying in his own defense during trial, admitting he was breaking into cars when he saw Woll’s body lying on the ground in front of her Detroit home, checked her for a pulse, then fled after realizing she was dead, fearing he would be blamed for her death.

"I’m a Black guy in the middle of the night, breaking into cars and I found myself standing in front of a dead white woman. It doesn’t look good at all," Jackson-Bolanos testified in court.

Krishnamoorthy described her client as good, someone with compassion and humanity.

And the defense argued police did not thoroughly investigate Woll’s ex-boyfriend , 41-year-old Jeffrey Herbstman, who initially admitted to killing Woll before recanting. Police later determined his testimony was false. He was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony during trial, according to the defense.

Herbstman testified he was in a state of panic after taking four hits of marijuana from a vape pen and doubling the dose of his new antidepressant when he convinced himself he had killed Woll and called police.

Krishnamoorthy said police zeroed in on Jackson-Bolanos instead of Woll's ex because "racism is alive and well. ... It just seems easier to go after what they would consider to be a young, Black man, who's already a felon. That just sounds like an easy snatch."

Jackson-Bolanos should have been cleared of all charges, according to the defense, especially given the reasonable doubt that it raised at trial, particularly regarding Herbstman.

“From the inception of this case, authorities did not conduct a thorough investigation into the murder of Ms. Woll. For example, Jeffrey Herbstman, who admitted to murdering Samantha Woll and later recanted, was never scrutinized as to his person, belongings or alibi on the night in question so as to be properly cleared as a suspect,” Krishnamoorthy wrote in the petition.

“This hasty and poorly conducted investigation, along with the unorthodox decision to grant immunity to Jeffrey Herbstman in exchange for his testimony, are just a few ways in which this entire trial has went awry.”

An attorney for Herbstman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at asahouri@freepress.com .

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Samantha Woll killing: Defendant is innocent 'without a shadow of a doubt,' attorneys say