DETROIT — Attorneys for a man accused in the murder of Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll in October 2023 are criticizing new charges against him and say the prosecutor's office is interfering with his release on parole.

A jury deadlocked in July 2024 when determining if Michael Jackson-Bolanos was responsible for killing Woll in her Detroit townhouse Oct. 21, 2023, 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 and convicted him of lying to police about larceny of vehicles.

He was sentenced to 18 months to 15 years in prison for lying to police.

Jackson-Bolanos was supposed to be released on parole July 1, but the prosecutor’s office filed a last-minute appeal to stop Jackson-Bolanos’ release from prison, which wasn’t received until June 30 and was filed in the wrong court, according to his attorney, Purna Krishnamoorthy.

The Michigan Department of Corrections moved Jackson-Bolanos' release date to July 28, but he was not released because of charges of two counts of resisting and obstructing an officer and having alcohol in an open container in a vehicle stemming from a July 24, 2020, incident, Krishnamoorthy said.

Krishnamoorthy and attorney Austin Gregory said they do not believe those charges being filed six years later, just before Jackson-Bolanos was set to be released, is a coincidence. A warrant request previously had been denied twice, Krishnamoorthy said.

“This was an extremely high-profile case,” Krishnamoorthy said. “I find it unbelievable that their office wouldn’t be keeping tabs on every movement made in this case at all times. … It seems like there’s misconduct here. It feels like it.”

Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said the 2020 charges should be dismissed, as they never should have been filed and Prosecutor Kym Worthy was not aware of them.

"The charges should never have been filed at this late date. Typically, in a high-profile case, a charging recommendation is presented and then a decision is considered and approved or denied by Prosecutor Worthy," Miller said in an email to The News. "For unknown reasons, this process did not happen in this case. She was never consulted, nor would she have ever agreed to charge this case from July 2020 in July 2026. That is why it is being dismissed today. This is a distraction and Prosecutor Worthy remains focused on the appeal in this matter."

Miller said the prosecutor's office sought leave to appeal the parole board's decision after learning Jackson-Bolanos would be released. Once the application to appeal and stay the parole board's decision was filed, the board delayed his release for 28 days pending a decision, but the Wayne County Circuit Court judge assigned did not make a decision within that time frame and delayed his release another 28 days.

"The People disagree with the Parole Board’s decision to release Mr. Jackson-Bolanos from prison and have challenged that decision through the appropriate means of seeking leave to appeal from the Circuit Court and not in the press,” Miller said.

Jackson-Bolanos was first eligible for parole in June 2025, but there was information in the pre-sentence investigation related to Woll’s death, despite him not being convicted of causing anyone’s death, that kept him in prison until that was corrected, Krishnamoorthy said.

"When you look at the history of this as a whole, this is no longer about one isolated filing, one procedural mistake or one unfortunate coincidence. There is a pattern. The pattern the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is continuously attempting to impose their will, despite that justice has already been administered in this case, and that is deeply troubling."

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

Jackson-Bolanos 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.

A jury in July 2024 could not come to a decision about a felony murder and home invasion charge, and Wayne Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten ultimately dismissed charges after she found she was bound by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that she disagreed with.

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.

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.

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