An Orange County man was convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime Wednesday in the stabbing death of a gay former high school classmate in 2018.
Jurors found Samuel Woodward, 26, guilty in the stabbing death of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, whose body was left in a shallow grave at Borrego park in Lake Forest. The victim had been repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck.
There were audible cheers in the courtroom when the hate crime decision was announced. The judge asked for quiet before the clerk continued reading the jury's verdict.
Bernstein's mother said she is relieved following the hate crime murder conviction. Jeanne Pepper Berstein spoke Wednesday outside the Santa Ana courtroom where Woodward was convicted. She thanked people for their support and said the family will need time to process the outcome of the murder trial.
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"This is a great relief that justice was served and this despicable human who murdered our son will no longer be a threat to the public," she said, adding that the family will now "live our lives knowing that this murderer will no longer be able to hurt any other people."
There were no indications of any visible reaction from Woodward when the verdict was read. He sat facing forward, his face obscured by his long, hair.
The verdict was reached one day of deliberations. Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 25. He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole
The hate-crime enhancement alleged Woodward killed Bernstein because of the victim's sexual orientation, not because he was Jewish, though jurors were also given evidence of the defendant's association with a neo-Nazi group known as the Atomwaffen Division to consider a pattern of bigotry.
Woodward and Bernstein attended the Orange County School of the Arts together for four years. Bernstein graduated after six years at the school and went on to become a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania.
The prosecution alleged during the trial that Woodward targeted gay men online and reached out to them before abruptly cutting off communication.
Woodward had admitted during the trial that he had matched with Bernstein on a dating app, and the two met up when Bernstein was home during his winter break while attending the University of Pennsylvania. Woodward testified while he and Bernstein were laying in the park together that Bernstein started to touch him in a sexual manner.
He said he was in “mortal terror” after seeing the light on Bernstein's cell phone. He was afraid Bernstein was recording and sending photos out to others. Woodward then testified that he stabbed Bernstein and felt an anger like he’d never felt in his whole life.
Woodward said he dug a shallow grave with his hands and left Bernstein's body in the park.
Bernstein did not arrived for a dentist appointment the next day. When he couldn't be reached, his parents began to search for their son and contacted authorities.
His body was found Jan. 9, 2018. The location had been searched earlier, but a rainstorm revealed his remains, prosecutors said.
Woodward spent five days testifying during the trial, often taking a long time to respond to yes or no questions.
Woodward’s defense attorney said Woodward did not hate Bernstein and did not plan to kill him when the two met up, instead saying Woodward was conflicted by his own sexuality and acted in a fit of rage. Woodward's attorney, Ken Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, told reporters after the verdict that he "made a very strong record of appellate issues, which included denial of the right of jurors to consider critical evidence to a fair trial, and while these issues remain on appeal I will have no further comment."
The defense also argued Woodward's long undiagnosed issues with autism left him vulnerable to recruitment by the white supremacist groups that target individuals like the defendant, who sought "acceptance and validation.” Woodward also had an "obsession'' with gay men and gay porn sites, his defense attorney said.
The trial has involved numerous witnesses including relatives, friends and authorities.
The defense portrayed Woodward as a young man struggling through life with autism, which they said led to social awkwardness and loneliness. He joined the extremist group Atomwaffen Division for a sense of belonging, the attorney argued, but that he soon became disillusioned with the group.
Morrison said Woodward admired how Bernstein was comfortable with his sexual orientation.
"Blaze Bernstein was in a lot of ways intimidating because he had qualities (Woodward) thought he lacked," Morrison said. "Sam was questioning all these things, looking for strong men, something he aspired to be."
Bernstein's parents checked their son's social media in a desperate search for clues and called Woodward, who lied about what happened to their son, prosecutors said. Woodward also searched for information about DNA and cut his hair to change his appearance, prosecutors added.
"The abundance of evidence here is overwhelming," Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said, adding that Bernstein kept his promise not to share the details of their conversations with others.
"Blaze Bernstein is not here to defend himself against these allegations," Walker said.
