Sentenced to life in prison for hate crime that killed gay college student in California – Winnipeg Free Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced to prison at the end of an all-day trial in a Southern California courtroom in the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago. Woodward, who did not appear in court Friday due to illness, was convicted this year of first-degree murder, an escalation in hate crimes, for the killing of Bernstein, a gay, Jewish sophomore at the college.

Dozens of Bernstein’s relatives and friends sat in the courtroom. Many wore T-shirts reading “Fire Forward,” the slogan of a campaign to perform acts of kindness in his name following his death.

“Let’s be clear: This was a hate crime,” Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, told the court. “Samuel Woodward ended my son’s life because he was Jewish and gay.”

He said he took solace in the fact that Woodward never left custody and that “while he rots in prison, we’ll be out here celebrating Blaze’s life.”

“Blaze’s memory and spirit will live on in all actions taken in his honor,” he said.

Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said there was no doubt about the sentence Woodward would receive because the jury’s verdict included a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Woodward’s attorney, Ken Morrison, asked the court to sentence his client to 28 years to life in prison, saying the judge had some discretion in the matter and that jurors were not allowed to see all the evidence in the case at trial. Morrison had previously said he would appeal the decision.

Bernstein, 19, disappeared in January 2018 after going with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, about 70 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles. When Bernstein missed a dentist appointment the next day, his family found his glasses, wallet, and credit cards in his bedroom and tried to reach him, but he did not respond.

Authorities launched an extensive search and said Bernstein’s family searched social media and found he had been communicating with Woodward on Snapchat. Authorities said Woodward told the family that Bernstein went to meet a friend at the park that night and did not return.

Days later, Bernstein’s body was found in a shallow grave in the park. He had been stabbed multiple times in the face and neck.

The question in Woodward’s months-long trial was not whether he killed Bernstein, but why and under what circumstances. Prosecutors said Woodward was affiliated with the anti-gay, neo-Nazi extremist group Atomwaffen Division, while Morrison said his client did not plan to kill anyone or hate Bernstein and faced difficult personal relationships due to his long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder.

Amid a series of delays, the case took years to reach trial and sparked public outcry in Southern California; Here, residents fanned out to help authorities find Bernstein after he suddenly disappeared in 2018.