DETROIT (WXYZ) — Jurors in the Samantha Woll murder trial will return for a fifth day of deliberating on Thursday as they have told a judge they still have not reached a verdict.
The judge dismissed the jury for the day on Tuesday after bringing them back to the courtroom after they had requested a transcript. A juror indicated they had a conflict and could not come in on Wednesday, so the decision was made to skip deliberations that day and return Thursday.
Day four kicked off with jurors restarting their deliberations after a juror was dismissed Monday and replaced with an alternated because the jury was leaving Tuesday on a previously scheduled vacation.
Day three of deliberations in the Samantha Woll murder trial ended with jurors still "deadlocked."
PREVIOUS REPORT: Jurors deadlocked in Samantha Woll murder trial; deliberations resume Monday
The suspect, Michael Jackson-Bolanos, maintains his innocence.
PREVIOUS REPORT: Defendant says he didn't stab Woll, was casing cars when he found her body
One of his attorneys, Purna Krishnamoorthy, told 7 News Detroit that Jackson Bolanos feels like he's in limbo as deliberations go on.
"I don't think it's shaken his confidence. He knows he's innocent. So, I don't think there's a shake in his confidence but, obviously, it's not a good position to be in. He doesn't want to be incarcerated because he did not do anything," Krishnamoorthy explained.
For an outside perspective, 7 News Detroit spoke with attorney Michael Bullota.
When asked how long deliberations might be allowed to continue, Bullota said, "I would say after today if they don't reach a verdict, the judge would declare a mistrial."
"It looks like this is going to be a hung jury. We're on day three of the deliberations," he added.
Bullota said the main question is, 'Does additional time to deliberate give the jury a possibility of reaching a verdict?'
As Jackson Bolanos awaits his fate, Woll's family awaits justice and are depending on the jury to decide if the right person is on trial.
Bullotta said, "There are some difficult, factual, allegations in light of the evidence. When you really look at the standard of proof, it's beyond a reasonable doubt."
He said, as investigators testified, there's the blood on Jackson Bolanos's jacket and his phone pinging cell towers near Woll's apartment that night. However, Jackson Bolanos explained he was breaking into cars when he discovered Woll's body and that he checked to see if she was alive.
Bullotta asked, "Is it likely that a typical smash-and-grab auto theft person is gonna go inside a house and then kill somebody? It seems out of the norm. So, I could easily see one or more jurors and you'd only need one not being convinced that this case is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So, I'm not going to be at all surprised with a hung jury."
He added, "I wouldn't be surprised if they came back and said not guilty,
7 News Detroit asked Brian Brown, one of Jackson Bolanos' attorneys, what he hoped would be the outcome of an alternate juror coming in.
Brown replied, "I believe that it'll hopefully should shake things up and a fresh voice to get to the root of the problem, the root of whatever it was individuals couldn't come to an agreement on and maybe just bring a fresh new perspective."
Jury deliberations are set to resume tomorrow morning at 8:30.
