Former classmate found guilty in slaying of Blaze Bernstein in anti-LGBTQ hate crime
Samuel Woodward, the man accused of killing his former classmate Blaze Bernstein in an anti-LGBTQ and anti-Jewish hate crime, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday.
Woodward was found guilty of first-degree murder with special allegations that the killing was motivated by hate and that it was committed using a weapon.
The trial, which began in April, came six years after Bernstein was found stabbed to death in Lake Forest.
Bernstein, who was Jewish and gay, attended the University of Pennsylvania but was back home in Orange County to visit family in January 2018.
He was reported missing on Jan. 2, and his body was discovered in a shallow grave in Borrego Park about a week later. He had been stabbed in the neck 19 times.
Woodward was eventually arrested and charged in Bernstein’s murder.
According to the Orange County Register, a “variety of forensic evidence” including a knife found in Woodward’s room with Bernstein’s blood on it, led to him being arrested and charged. Woodward was the last person known to have seen Bernstein alive.
Investigators also found a trove of images and journal entries described as “graphic and chilling” on his personal devices and social media, including images that were racist, homophobic, antisemitic and anti-government. He also wrote about posing as a gay man to “troll” men.
Woodward is also believed to have at the very least an interest in a neo-Nazi extremist group.
That led to prosecutors including a special allegation that the murder was the result of a hate crime.
Woodward’s attorney had disputed that his client was motivated by hatred toward Jews or the LGBTQ community.
After being found guilty in Bernstein’s death, Woodward now faces the possibility of serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
This story will be updated with sentencing information once it becomes available.
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