Murder case dismissed against man charged in death of Detroit synagogue leader

DETROIT (AP) — The case against against a man accused of killing of a Detroit synagogue leader collapsed Friday as a judge dismissed a remaining murder charge, three weeks after a jury cleared him of a similar but separate charge.

Judge Margaret Van Houten said putting Michael Jackson-Bolanos on trial again for murder would be unconstitutional “double jeopardy.”

It is a victory for Jackson-Bolanos, who has repeatedly declared his innocence in the fatal stabbing of Samantha Woll. Prosecutors acknowledged that the pending murder charge probably had to be dismissed, but it still was a blow in the highly publicized case.

Woll, 40, was found dead outside her Detroit home last October. It raised speculation about whether the attack was some type of antisemitic retaliation amid the Israel-Hamas war, though police found no connection.

A jury in July acquitted Jackson-Bolanos of first-degree premediated murder. But it couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on a separate charge of felony murder, which in Michigan is murder committed during another crime. In this case, prosecutors alleged a home invasion.

The judge ruled out a second trial Friday, based on a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving partial jury verdicts.

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