DETROIT — A Wayne County judge on Friday dismissed felony murder and home invasion charges against a man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll, noting she was bound by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that she disagreed with.

A jury deadlocked last month when determining if Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, was responsible for killing Woll in her Detroit town house Oct. 21, leaving her with eight stab wounds to the head and neck. They could not come to a unanimous decision on felony murder and home invasion charges, but acquitted him of first-degree murder.

Wayne Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten sentenced Jackson-Bolanos to 18 months to 15 years in prison for the one charge for which he was convicted — lying to police. She noted that he clearly had not learned his lesson during his previous probation and prison time. She said the number of lies he told police also factored into the sentence.

“If lying was an Olympic sport, you would get a gold medal, sir, because you told lie after lie after lie during those interrogations and even a few on the stand,” Van Houten said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2009 that defendants cannot be tried a second time after a deadlocked jury comes to a verdict on a charge with a similar factual basis. Because the jury found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder and the lesser second-degree murder charge, Van Houten said prosecutors cannot retry Jackson-Bolanos on either count.

"The Court held that, when a jury acquits on one count while failing to reach a verdict on another count concerning the same issue of ultimate fact, the acquittal and only the acquittal counts for Double Jeopardy issue-preclusion purposes," the Supreme Court wrote.

Van Houten said because prosecutors charged the home invasion case with an underlying assault theory — that is, that Jackson-Bolanos went into Woll’s home with the intent to assault her — prosecutors also cannot retry him on that crime.

She said, however, that she agreed with prosecutors that the Supreme Court ruling was a poor decision.

"I don't believe this jury had any idea that when they thought he was not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, that they were precluding a retrial on felony murder," Van Houten said. "I am going to have to dismiss as to both murder and home invasion."

Prosecutors vowed to appeal Van Houten's ruling on the retrial. Woll's family, meanwhile, said they remain "absolutely convicted" that Jackson-Bolanos is responsible for her death.

Douglas Woll, Woll's father, said they are still looking for justice.

"We are disappointed in the justice system but are glad he is going to be in jail for a while," Douglas Woll said. "Our family is devastated by the whole process and the antics of the defense attorneys who have used lies, misdirection and made up stories and hypotheses. Our family is just trying to persevere and get through this nightmare."

Woll's mother, Margo Woll, said they miss their daughter dearly.

"It's been psychological torture going through this for so long," Margo Woll said.

Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Dominic DeGrazia said Jackson-Bolanos consistently committed crimes when he was out of jail and prison, and will likely to continue to do so in the future if he’s not sent to prison. He asked Van Houten to sentence Jackson-Bolanos to 22 months to 15 years in prison.

He also noted that Jackson-Bolanos admitted to committing crimes the night Woll was killed. He told police and testified that he was breaking into cars the night of Oct. 21 and was casing cars to look for open doors.

Brown, Jackson-Bolanos's attorney, called prosecutors' proposed sentence a “preposterous request” and asked Van Houten to sentence him to probation, as the Michigan Department of Corrections recommended.

“They want to convict him, they want to punish him for something he didn’t do,” Brown said. “He’s learned from his mistakes. … I can guarantee he won’t even jaywalk going forward. He won’t even forget to blow his nose after sneezing. That’s how straight on the path Mr. Jackson-Bolanos has to be. He is not going to have any more run ins, at all, with the legal system going forward.”

In late July, Brown and Purna Krishnamoorthy, another attorney for Jackson-Bolanos, filed a motion after the six-week trial to dismiss the felony murder and home invasion charges against their client, arguing it would be illegal double jeopardy to try their client again for murder after a jury acquitted him of it. Brown and Krishnamoorthy have said Jackson-Bolanos is innocent and that police failed to consider other people as possible suspects.

Prosecutors say Jackson-Bolanos broke into Woll's Lafayette Park town house around 4:20 a.m. Oct. 21, 2023, and stabbed her eight times in the head and neck before fleeing.

Before acquitting Jackson-Bolanos of first-degree murder, the jury told Van Houten three times that they were deadlocked. She urged them to continue deliberating.

Jackson-Bolanos, 29, who took the stand in his own defense, maintained that he didn't kill Woll, though he acknowledged he was in the area of her Lafayette Park townhouse in the early morning hours of Oct. 21. Retrieving a bag that he'd stolen earlier in the night, he testified that he saw Woll's body but didn't notify police because he worried he'd be held responsible. He also acknowledged lying to police.

When he saw Woll, she “wasn’t OK,” Jackson-Bolanos testified. “Once I realized I just touched a dead person, I grabbed the bag and I left. …I’m a Black guy out in the middle of the night breaking into cars, and I found myself standing in front of a dead white woman. That doesn’t look good at all.”

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued there were too many "too many coincidences" to suggest that anyone other than Jackson-Bolanos killed Woll in her Detroit town house. They centered their case largely on GPS phone data and surveillance footage that put Jackson-Bolanos near Woll's home and DNA evidence showing a small amount of Woll's blood on his jacket and backpack.

Speaking after the hearing Friday, Douglas Woll, who regularly attended Jackson-Bolanos' trial, said his daughter was a beautiful person with a heart of gold.

"It's society's loss she's not here," he said.

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