A California man convicted of killing a gay University of Pennsylvania student in what prosecutors proved was a hate-motivated attack faces mandatory life imprisonment without parole at his sentencing Friday, nearly seven years after the brutal slaying.
Samuel Woodward, 27, will receive the automatic life term for his first-degree murder conviction with a hate crime enhancement in the killing of Blaze Bernstein, according to Orange County District Attorney’s spokesperson Kimberly Edds. Defense attorney Ken Morrison has indicated he will appeal the verdict.
Bernstein, a 19-year-old gay, Jewish sophomore, vanished in January 2018 after meeting Woodward at a park in Lake Forest, 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles. His disappearance sparked an extensive search after his parents found his glasses, wallet, and credit cards in his bedroom and couldn’t reach him. Days later, authorities discovered Bernstein’s body in a shallow grave, repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck.
The trial focused not on whether Woodward killed Bernstein—which was undisputed—but on the killer’s motives. Prosecutors presented evidence of Woodward’s affiliation with Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi extremist group known for its anti-gay ideology. They revealed his pattern of targeting gay men online through dating apps before abruptly cutting contact, documented in a hateful, profanity-filled journal.
A search of Woodward’s Newport Beach home uncovered damning evidence: a bloodstained Atomwaffen mask, a folding knife with blood on the blade, and numerous materials promoting anti-gay, antisemitic, and hate group ideologies.
The defense argued that Woodward, who gave halting testimony from behind partially concealing long hair, suffered from an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder and struggled with his sexuality after growing up in a conservative Catholic family where his father openly condemned homosexuality.
Bernstein and Woodward had attended Orange County School of the Arts together and reconnected through a dating app months before the killing. Woodward claimed he stabbed Bernstein after the victim tried to photograph him, triggering fears about the image’s potential use.
The case, which saw multiple delays before trial, galvanized Southern California communities in 2018 as residents joined searches for the missing student. Morrison’s promised appeal will likely extend the legal proceedings in a case that has already spanned nearly seven years.
The conviction represents a significant prosecution of anti-LGBTQ violence in California, establishing crucial precedent in the treatment of hate-motivated killings targeting sexual orientation.
