A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in a hate crime is expected to be sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Samuel Woodward, 27, is set to be sentenced in a Southern California courtroom for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago.
According to Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office, the sentence Woodward will receive is certain because the jury’s verdict carries a life sentence without parole.
Defense attorney Ken Morrison previously stated that he would appeal the verdict.
This year, Woodward was found guilty of first-degree murder with a hate crime enhancement for killing Bernstein, a gay, Jewish college sophomore.
Bernstein, 19, went missing in January 2018 after going out at night with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
After Bernstein missed his dentist appointment the next day, his parents discovered his glasses, wallet, and credit cards in his bedroom and attempted to contact him, but he did not respond.
Authorities conducted a thorough search, and Bernstein’s family discovered he had communicated with Woodward via Snapchat.
According to authorities, Woodward told the family that Bernstein left to meet a friend in the park that night and did not return.
Days later, Bernstein’s body was discovered in a shallow grave in the park. He’d been stabbed repeatedly in the face and neck.
The question during Woodward’s months-long trial was not whether he killed Bernstein, but why and under what circumstances.
Prosecutors said Woodward was a member of the violent anti-gay, neo-Nazi extremist group Atomwaffen Division, while Morrison said his client did not intend to kill anyone or despise Bernstein and had difficult personal relationships due to a long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder.
The case took years to get to trial due to a series of delays, and it sparked public outrage in Southern California, where residents fanned out in 2018 to help authorities find Bernstein after he went missing unexpectedly.
Woodward testified during his trial, giving slow, delayed responses to lawyers’ questions while his long hair partially obscured his face.
Bernstein and Woodward attended the same high school, Orange County School of the Arts, and met through a dating app in the months preceding the murder.
Woodward claimed he picked up Bernstein, went to a nearby park, and repeatedly stabbed him after attempting to retrieve a cellphone he suspected had been used to photograph him.
Morrison, the defense attorney, claimed Woodward was perplexed about his sexuality after growing up in a politically conservative and devout Catholic family where his father openly condemned homosexuality.
However, prosecutors told a different story. They claimed Woodward had repeatedly targeted gay men online, reaching out to them and then abruptly breaking off contact, while keeping a hateful, profanity-laced journal of his actions.
Authorities said they also discovered a black Atomwaffen mask with blood stains, a folding knife with a bloodied blade, and a slew of anti-gay, antisemitic, and hate group materials during a search of his family’s home in Newport Beach, California.
