An Orange County man was convicted of first-degree homicide Wednesday within the stabbing dying of a homosexual former highschool classmate in 2018.
Jurors additionally discovered that Samuel Woodward dedicated a hate crime when he killed 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, whose physique was left in a shallow grave at Borrego park in Lake Forest. The sufferer had been repeatedly stabbed within the face and neck.
There have been audible cheers within the courtroom when the hate crime choice was introduced. The choose requested for quiet earlier than the clerk continued studying the jury’s verdict.
“It is a nice aid that justice is served, and this despicable human who murdered our son will now not be a menace to the general public,” Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, Blaze Bernstein’s mom, stated in a information convention after the decision was learn.
There have been no indications of any seen response from Woodward. He sat going through ahead, his face obscured by his lengthy, hair.
The decision was reached someday of deliberations.
The prosecution alleged throughout the trial that Woodward, who had joined an anti-gay and anti-Semitic group, focused homosexual males on-line and reached out to them earlier than abruptly chopping off communication.
The homicide cost towards Woodward included sentencing enhancements for a hate crime and the private use of a lethal weapon. He faces as much as life in jail with out the potential of parole when he is sentenced.
A sentencing date was not instantly scheduled.
“The defendant on Jan. 2 or within the early morning hours of Jan. 3, killed Blaze Bernstein as a result of he was homosexual,” Senior Deputy District Lawyer Jennifer Walker informed jurors.
However Woodward’s protection legal professional stated Woodward didn’t hate Bernstein and didn’t plan to kill him when the 2 met up, as an alternative saying Woodward was conflicted by his personal sexuality and acted in a match of rage.
The protection additionally argued Woodward’s lengthy undiagnosed points with autism left him weak to recruitment by the white supremacist teams that focus on people just like the defendant, who sought “acceptance and validation.” Woodward additionally had an “obsession” with homosexual males and homosexual porn websites, his protection legal professional stated.
Woodward had admitted throughout the trial that he had matched with Bernstein on a courting app, and the 2 met up when Bernstein was house throughout his winter break white attending the College of Pennsylvania.
Woodward testified whereas he and Bernstein have been laying within the park collectively that Bernstein began to the touch him in a sexual method.
He stated he was in “mortal terror” after seeing the sunshine on Bernstein’s cellular phone. He was afraid Bernstein was recording and sending photographs out to others.
Woodward then testified that he stabbed Bernstein and felt an anger like he’d by no means felt in his complete life.
The trial has concerned quite a few witnesses together with kinfolk, pals and authorities. Woodward’s testimony has moved slowly, with him taking lengthy pauses earlier than answering his legal professional’s questions.
