No decision made to retry Michael Jackson-Bolanos in murder of Samantha Woll
(CBS DETROIT) - The man on trial for the murder of Samantha Woll was back in court on Thursday for a pretrial hearing.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos was found not guilty of first-degree murder last week, but the jury was deadlocked on felony murder and home invasion. He was found guilty of lying to the police.
Woll's family spoke to the media Thursday after the court proceeding was pushed to a later date.
"The defense has been working really hard to make this case about race... when it should be about evidence, and the evidence clearly points to one man, Michael Jackson-Bolanos," said Monica Woll, Samantha Woll's sister.
Monica Woll criticized the defense for making the trial about race and stated they believed the evidence was clear.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my family's mind that Michael Jackson-Bolanos did this to my sister, and all we ask is that justice is served," Monica Woll said.
The jury, however, did not agree and found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty on the first-degree murder charge as well as second-degree murder, which was another charge the jury could consider.
Defense attorney Purna Krishnamoorthy said that based on legal precedent, she did not believe the state had the legal authority to retry her client on the deadlocked charges of felony murder.
"According to the caselaw, it shouldn't be refiled," Krishnamoorthy said.
The defense filed a motion to dismiss to prevent the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office from refiling charges.
"Essentially, the elements they found him not guilty of second-degree murder and not guilty of first-degree murder, so they were able to consider second-degree murder, right? So how are you retrying on a felony murder if he was acquitted of a second-degree murder along with a first-degree murder?" Krishnamoorthy said.
Krishnamoorthy said the elements of the charges Jackson-Boloanos was found guilty of are in line with deadlocked charges, so that should prevent the legal ability to retry him.
Jackson-Bolanos will be back in court on Aug. 9. The prosecutor's office has until then to issue a response to the motion to dismiss the case.
