Sam Woodward found guilty of murder as a hate crime in death of Blaze Bernstein

An Orange County, California, jury found 26-year-old Sam Woodward guilty of first-degree murder with a hate crime enhancement Wednesday for the 2018 death of Blaze Bernstein, whose body was found days after he went missing, buried in a shallow grave at a Lake Forest park. 

The jury reached its verdict after deliberating for just one day. 

The judge hushed the courtroom as applause was heard during the reading of the verdict. 

The prosecution had argued for Woodward to be found guilty of first-degree murder as a hate crime. Defense attorneys argued that Woodward should be convicted for voluntary manslaughter and acquitted of hate-crime allegations. 

Jurors also were asked to consider second-degree murder. Closing arguments in the case had begun Friday, two-and-a-half months after the trial began in Santa Ana. 

Following the reading of the guilty verdict, Bernstein's parents shared their gratitude to the jury, to law enforcement and to the "army of supporters and volunteers" who were with them through the six-and-a-half-year ordeal.

"This was a great relief that justice was served and this despicable human, who murdered our son, will no longer be a threat to the public," his mother Jeanne Pepper Bernstein said.  "We are grateful to the jury for their service and their long days and weeks they spent in that service. Justice has been served." 

Sam Woodward was charged with stabbing Bernstein to death a little over six years ago. The Newport Beach man admitted to stabbing Bernstein, a 19-year-old gay, Jewish man, multiple times in 2018, but pleaded not guilty to murder with an enhancement for a hate crime.

Orange County prosecutor Jennifer Walker maintained to jurors that Woodward stabbed Bernstein, his former high school classmate, because he was gay, and buried his body at Borrego Park in Lake Forest.

"To dig a grave in that terrain, and bury and clean up and murder someone in an hour and half..that is not someone who is just going, 'Oh..something happened and I need to figure it out.' That is determined," Walker said.

Bernstein, who was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, was home visiting his family on winter break in January 2018 when he went missing after going with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, California. Woodward picked Bernstein up from his parents' home after connecting with him on social media.

Bernstein's parents found his glasses, wallet and credit cards in his bedroom the next day when he missed a dentist appointment and wasn't responding to texts or calls, prosecutors wrote in a trial brief.

Days later, Bernstein's body was found buried at the park in a shallow grave.

The case took years to go to trial after questions were raised about Woodward's mental state and following defense attorney changes. Woodward was deemed competent to stand trial in late 2022.  

Woodward took the stand for several days and confessed to jurors that he stabbed Bernstein multiple times. 

DNA evidence linked Woodward to the killing and his cellphone contained troves of anti-gay, antisemitic and hate group materials, authorities said.

"Now with the verdict in hand, we believe justice has been served and that Blaze's memory will be honored through this outcome," Pepper Bernstein said.

Bernstein was a pre-med student and avid writer when he was enrolled at UPenn, where he worked as a copy associate and wrote opinion columns for the campus newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian. At the time of his death, he was expected to become the managing editor of Penn Appétit, the university's student-run food magazine, according to the UPenn Almanac.