Alternate juror to join deadlocked jury in Samantha Woll murder trial

After three days of deliberation, the jury in the Samantha Woll murder trial remains deadlocked, though the judge on Monday dismissed one of the jurors due to a prescheduled vacation and told the panel to return Tuesday.

An alternate juror — a male — will join the panel when deliberations resume to decide the fate of 29-year-old Michael Jackson-Bolanos, who is accused of fatally stabbing the beloved synagogue leader during an alleged home invasion in 2023. The new jury now consists of nine men and three women.

In two separate notes to the judge, the jury stated on Monday that it remains deadlocked on some of the counts, and that some jurors had scheduling conflicts. One juror has a doctor's appointment; another has a prepaid vacation; a third has a babysitter issue, but says she is working it out.

"We don't want to give up quite yet. ... We'd like you to give it one more day to discuss things," said Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten, noting the lengthy trial that now is into week six.

At trial, the defense argued that police have the wrong person, maintaining Jackson-Bolanos stumbled across Woll's body on a walkway while out breaking into cars late at night, and touched her to see if she was dead, but that he is not the killer. The defense also argued that police ignored other potential suspects, including an ex-boyfriend who confessed to the killing and later recanted.

The prosecution argues Jackson-Bolanos is the killer, maintaining he lied to police repeatedly about his actions that night, and noted Woll's blood was found on his coat sleeve, and that security cameras placed him near the scene that night.

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A key sticking point in this case is that the prosecution has no physical evidence that places Jackson-Bolanos inside Woll's condo, where police say she was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Oct. 21, 2023.

The prosecution argues, however, that all the evidence points to Jackson-Bolanos: he had blood on his sleeve; he was the only person spotted in the area during the time frame police believe she was killed; he was casing cars in Woll's neighborhood, where he allegedly saw her door was open and went inside; and he lied repeatedly to police about what happened that night.

Jackson-Bolanos, who took the rare step of testifying in his own defense, admitted to the jury that he lied to police about seeing and touching Woll's body, but said he did so because he feared being 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.

The 12-member jury includes three Black jurors.

Jackson-Bolanos also noted during his testimony that he was a habitual offender and knew he was facing 25 years in prison if he were caught doing anything illegal again. In this case, he was breaking into cars.

The prosecution countered that Jackson-Bolanos lied to the police for the same reason he killed Woll: He knew he was facing a lot of time in prison if he got caught.

Jackson-Bolanos is charged with felony murder, first-degree murder, home invasion and lying to police. If he is convicted he faces life in prison.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Alternate juror to join deadlocked jury in Samantha Woll murder trial