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Michael Jackson-Bolanos (file photo)
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Ryan Elsey speculated in closing arguments last week that defendant Michael Jackson-Bolanos went into Samantha Woll's unlocked townhouse around 4:20 a.m. on Oct. 21, hoping to steal.
But when he saw Woll, Elsey said Jackson-Bolanos made a snap decision to "unleash an outburst of violence" and stab her to death to make certain she couldn't identify him.
Since there's no video, no one knows for sure what happened. But under that scenario painted by the prosecutor, jurors may have decided there was no evidence to support premeditation, even if Jackson-Bolanos murdered Woll. Thus, the not guilty verdict on Thursday on that, and second-degree murder.
Jurors did, however, deadlock on charges of felony murder and home invasion, resulting in a mistrial on those charges. That suggests at least some thought Jackson-Bolanos killed Woll, but not with premeditation.
Conversely, it could mean that some believed Jackson-Bolanos when he testified in his own defense that he stumbled across the Woll's dead body outside after she'd been stabbed eight times inside. Prosecutors say she stumbled outside after being stabbed, and that Jackson-Bolanos had blood stains from Woll on his coat and backpack.
In weighing his innocence, some jurors may have also considered defense attorney Brian Brown's argument that the eight stab wounds were a sign of a crime of passion, and therefore, was likely the doings of a love interest, possiblly ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Herbstman, who at one point told investigators that he may have killed Woll, but didn't remember anything.
Herbstman was arrested and released without ever being charged after investigators looked into a possible link. Herbstman suggested he was in an altered state of mind when he mentioned the murder to police, explaining during trial that he had doubled his dose of meds for depression and smoked marijuana when he made his confession.
Prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry Jackson-Bolanos on the felony murder and home invasion charges.
In assessing the case, they will likely consider how many jurors voted to convict.
