An Orange County jury concluded Wednesday that Samuel Woodward stabbed a gay former classmate 28 times in a dark park in 2018 out of hatred and murderous intent.
The jury deliberated for about a day before finding Woodward, 26, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Blaise Bernstein, a 19-year-old Penn State student.
The jury rejected the defense’s argument that Woodward carried out the stabbing only because Bernstein angered him.
“We are very excited about this verdict, which holds Samuel Woodward accountable,” Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, said at a news conference. “Justice has been served. “It’s reassuring that this despicable man who murdered our son is no longer a threat to the public.”
The jury also convicted Woodward of an aggravated hate crime charge that applied only to Bernstein’s sexual orientation, even though he was both Jewish and gay.
Woodward’s computer was filled with anti-gay and anti-Semitic propaganda from the extremist group Atomwaffen Division, and he also kept a “hate diary” in which he bragged about playing pranks and scaring gay people.
Woodward faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when Judge Kimberly Menninger sentenced him on Oct. 25.
Woodward’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison, said technically the judge had the discretion to change the sentence, but “it’s not politically possible.”
“In this case, with this judge, especially with the prosecutorial and media narrative over the past six years, that’s not going to happen,” Morrison said.
Morrison criticized the narrative as “Nazis killing gay Jews” and spent much of the three-month trial trying to overturn it, with little success. He said Woodward would appeal, adding that “the record of appeal issues is very extensive” involving evidence that the jury was not allowed to see. He did not elaborate on that evidence.
Both sides portrayed Woodward as a young man who struggled with his sexual orientation growing up in a conservative Newport Beach family with a particularly disapproving father.
Deputy District Atty. Jennifer Walker told the jury that when Woodward decided to kill Bernstein in January 2018, he chose a symbolic weapon: a knife engraved with his father’s name.
“Who better to prove that you are not gay than your homophobic father?” Walker said in closing arguments. “‘I’m not gay, look what I just did.'”
Morrison admitted his client was guilty of killing Bernstein, which he called a “horrible crime” but said it was intentional homicide and not murder.
“There was no premeditation or deliberation,” he told jurors, arguing that the murder had no bearing on his client’s interests in the atomic weapons division.
On the night of the murder, Bernstein and Woodward exchanged flirtatious text messages. They met by chance several years ago at the Orange County Art Institute, where Woodward had a reputation for his far-right, anti-gay views.
Woodward had dropped out of college and was living with his parents. Bernstein, an openly gay student, lived with his parents in Lake Forest during winter break.
Woodward said he was curious about bisexuality. Bernstein texted his address. Woodward picked him up and they went to a nearby park.
“Unfortunately for Blaydes, curiosity got him killed,” Walker said.
Woodward took the stand in his own defense, looking almost catatonic, his words stuttering and slow, his eyes cast downward and his face covered with a shaggy strand of hair. His lawyers had to keep reminding him to look up.
Woodward testified that he took two puffs of marijuana, fell into a haze, and woke up to find Bernstein touching his genitals.
According to Woodward, Bernstein told him he was out, called him a hypocrite and said things like “I got you.” Woodward said he was concerned that Bernstein had taken a photo of his genitals and texted it to someone.
When asked about the details of the stabbing, Woodward repeatedly said he did not remember.
Bernstein’s blood was found on a knife bearing Woodward’s father’s name, leading prosecutors to conclude it was the murder weapon. But Woodward insists he used a different knife.
There was no evidence that Bernstein took the explicit photos of Woodward, and prosecutor Walker called the defendant’s account “ridiculous” and “revisionist history.”
She scoffed at suggestions that Woodward flew into a rage out of fear of being exposed, saying Woodward posted photos of himself on a Tinder profile, said he was looking for other men and had posted photos of his penis on more than one occasion.
“It’s very symbolic to pick up a weapon with your father’s name on it,” especially considering Woodward, an Eagle Scout, owned multiple knives, she said. Prosecutors said Woodward hoped to improve his image in the atomic weapons division by killing Bernstein.
“This will prove to Atomwaffen that he is not gay,” Walker said. “It will prove to his father that he is not gay. It will prove to himself that he is not gay.
When police searched Woodward’s belongings, they found a dead man’s head mask (the symbol of the Atomic Force) splattered with Bernstein’s blood, suggesting Woodward had the mask with him during the stabbing.
“Why the skull mask?” Walker said. “It was a ritual killing for him that would gain him prestige and admiration, and it did. We heard that Atomwaffen was proud of him for it.
Woodward buried Bernstein in a shallow grave in the park and, in an effort to distract investigators, sent text messages to Bernstein’s cellphone asking where he was. Woodward’s initial story to police was that he accompanied Bernstein to the park, but Bernstein inexplicably walked away.
After a week of searching, Bernstein’s body was found after rain washed away the dirt that had covered it. No shovel was found. However, according to Morrison, dirt was found under Woodward’s fingernails and he dug the makeshift grave with his hands, which was not a premeditated crime.
Morrison portrayed his client as a socially awkward young man who had suffered from undiagnosed autism for years.
He said there was no evidence Woodward was actually pranking and terrorizing gay people in his “hate diaries”, which Morrison described as empty boasts.
Morrison denies Bernstein’s fatal stabbing a ‘hate crime inspired by Hitler and others’ [Charles] Manson.
He attributed his client’s attachment to the Atomic Weapons Division to “his lifelong struggle to fit in, build and maintain meaningful friendships,” which made him vulnerable to a group that offered friendship and preyed on people like him s damage. He said his clients “craved human connection.”
The Santa Ana courtroom was packed Wednesday afternoon. After the jury was seated, the verdict was passed to the judge and then to the court clerk, Anthony Villa. A verdict, but no emotion.
This time, he said “guilty” with a choked voice and it was difficult to continue.
That sentiment resonated as Bernstein’s friends and family sat together. “Thank God,” someone sobbed.
