The case against a man accused of killing of a Detroit synagogue leader collapsed 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 Friday that putting Michael Jackson-Bolanos on trial again for murder would be unconstitutional "double jeopardy." Jackson-Bolanos maintains his innocence in the fatal stabbing of , 40, who was found dead outside her home in October.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the pending murder charge probably had to be dismissed, the reports. 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 US Supreme Court decision involving partial jury verdicts. Van Houten said that it was a "poor decision" but that she had to apply it to Jackson-Bolanos.
She dismissed the remaining murder and home invasion charges. Prosecutors pledged to appeal. Van Houten then sentenced Jackson-Bolanos to 18 months in prison for lying to police during the investigation—his only trial conviction.
Defense attorney Brian Brown asked for probation. "If lying was an Olympic sport, you would get a gold medal, sir," the judge told Jackson-Bolanos. Jackson-Bolanos testified in his own defense, insisting that he had no ro.