The family of Samantha Woll, the slain Detroit Jewish leader and political activist, remain confident that a man accused of her murder will face another trial despite a judge’s recent decision to drop a felony murder charge against him because of a US supreme court precedent.
That was the latest twist in a case that has seen several unusual turns and stunned many residents of the city, particularly in its Jewish community, where Woll was a prominent and popular figure. The failure to secure a conviction in the brutal slaying has stunned many.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos was accused of fatally stabbing Woll eight times during a home invasion in Detroit in October 2023. In July, a jury found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder, convicted him of lying to police, and deadlocked on two other charges: felony murder and home invasion, according to the Detroit Free Press.
But judge Margaret Van Houten dismissed the felony murder charge, citing a precedent set by the supreme court that states that when there is a hung jury, a “person can’t be retried on deadlocked charges that share the same element as the underlying charge”, meaning that because “a jury found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder, they can’t retry him on the felony murder charge”, the Free Press reported.
The arrest and trial followed Woll’s ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Herbstman, calling 911 two weeks after her death, saying he may have killed her. He later said the call had been an adverse reaction to a new antidepressant and his being high on marijuana. Police detained and then released him.
Despite those events, Woll’s family continue to believe that Jackson-Bolanos is guilty and could still be convicted. The prosecution also said it plans to appeal the ruling to the Michigan court of appeals.
“I know it’s not over,” Monica Woll Rosen, Samantha’s sister, said. “Letting a murderer walk free based on a technicality just cannot be the reality of the situation, and I believe something will work out.”
Woll, 40, worked as a deputy district manager for Elissa Slotkin, a US representative and Michigan Democrat, and on the campaigns of Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, and Stephanie Chang, a state senator, both of whom are Democrats. Woll was also president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and helped lead its fundraising campaign and a grand reopening that occurred just months before her death, according to her obituary.
“She was in the front row of every march and every protest, for every progressive movement”, including Black Lives Matter and efforts to build dialogue between Jews and Muslims, Woll Rosen said. “She always wanted to bring people together.”
Woll had asked Yevgeniya Gazman, an attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, to serve on the synagogue’s capital campaign fundraising committee. When Gazman tweaked the script for calls, Woll told her: “Wow. You’re so good at this.”
When the congregation displayed Gazman’s artwork, Woll asked whether it was OK that she told everyone after a Shabbat service that Gazman was the artist.
“The way that she was able to just hype up other people and really make you feel seen – it was really amazing,” Gazman said.
Ten months after the murder, Woll Rosen said: “Living without my sister is its own torture every day. You don’t know what it’s like until it happens to you.”
In December, Jackson-Bolanos was charged with felony murder after police found that he had been stealing and attempting to steal vehicles near Woll’s home the night of the murder. During the five-week trial, he testified that he had found Woll’s body lying on the ground in front of her Detroit home, checked her for a pulse and then fled after realizing she was dead, fearing he would be blamed for her death, the Free Press reported.
The prosecution argued that Jackson-Bolanos only admitted to being on the scene after lying more than 40 times, and he was convicted of lying to police.
Despite Jackson-Bolanos’s proximity to the crime scene, his defense attorney claimed he was innocent and pointed to the fact that police had also arrested Woll’s ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Herbstman.
Herbstman was granted immunity and testified during the trial about the adverse reaction to his medication.
“Jeff is incredible, and I’m not just saying this because I’m his friend, but there is absolutely no way he did this,” Woll Rosen said.
For Woll Rosen and her family, attending the trial and “listening to my sister’s life poured out for the public to scrutinize” had been difficult, “and then to not even have it end in a conviction was heart-wrenching”, she said.
After the jury deadlock and judge’s dismissal of the murder charge, Brian Brown, an attorney for Jackson-Bolanos, argued his client should not serve time for lying to police, according to the Free Press. He said his client “won’t even jaywalk going forward”.
Jackson-Bolanos said: “I don’t want no more trouble.”
Van Houten, the judge, sentenced him to 18 months to 15 years in prison for lying to police and said he had not learned his lesson during an earlier period of incarceration and probation. She also said that she disagreed with the supreme court ruling regarding a retrial and that she didn’t think the jury was aware of the precedent, according to the Detroit News.
“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.”
Woll Rosen said she has “zero doubt” that Jackson-Bolanos committed the murder.
“Anybody who’s even slightly intelligent, who listened to the trial, would understand that it’s him,” she said.
Woll Rosen thinks Jackson-Bolanos could still be convicted.
“I believe there is a long road ahead,” she said, “but we are going to keep fighting for justice for Sam.”
