A California man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2018 murder of a gay, Jewish university student in what has been described as a hate crime.
Samuel Woodward, 27, was convicted in July for killing Blaze Bernstein, a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, by stabbing him more than 28 times before burying his body.
Bernstein’s body was discovered a week after his disappearance in a park near his family’s home in Lake Forest, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
During the trial, prosecutors highlighted Woodward’s ties to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division and accused him of targeting gay men online with hate-fueled rhetoric.
The sentencing hearing was delayed for hours as Woodward initially refused to leave his cell. He also left the courtroom during victim impact statements.
Jeanne Pepper, Bernstein’s mother, described her grief, saying, “No mother should have to bury her child…my heart was so broken.”
She added, “I will never forget hearing for the first time that Blaze had been stabbed 28 times. It’s the single worst, most painful thing that has ever happened to me.”
Woodward’s defense attorney, Ken Morrison, has stated plans to appeal the guilty verdict. During the trial, his lawyers argued that Woodward struggled with personal relationships due to an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder.
However, after years of delays to assess his mental health, Woodward was deemed fit to stand trial in late 2022. His testimony during the trial was marked by long pauses before answering basic questions.
Prosecutors recounted that Woodward met Bernstein through Snapchat and arranged a night out. Woodward claimed he became enraged after Bernstein kissed him and accused Bernstein of using a cellphone to photograph him.
This led to the fatal stabbing. Bernstein’s parents reported him missing the next day after he failed to attend a dentist appointment and stopped responding to their attempts to contact him.
DNA evidence in Woodward’s rental car and a search of his home linked him to the crime. Police found a folding knife with blood traces, a black Atomwaffen mask, and a journal filled with anti-gay and antisemitic writings.
The Associated Press reported that Woodward, raised in a Catholic household critical of homosexuality, was reportedly confused about his own sexuality.
Bernstein had been home for winter break at the time of the attack. He and Woodward, former classmates from an Orange County high school, reconnected through a dating app in the months leading up to the incident.
Source-BBC
