Closing arguments in Blaze Bernstein murder trial are underway

Closing arguments in the Blaze Bernstein murder trial began Friday in a Santa Ana courtroom, two and a half months after the trial started.

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

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

"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 was a college sophomore, home visiting his family on winter break. The two young men had previously attended the same high school in Orange County.

Bernstein went missing after he went out with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, California, in January 2018. 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.

Sam Woodward's attorney told jurors on opening day that it's not a question of who is responsible but why. It's the single most important issue, according to Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison, who has denied the killing was motivated by hatred.

Wooward took the stand for several days confessing to jurors that he stabbed Blaze Bernstein multiple times after he claims Berstein sexually assaulted him.

Woodward described that he was in a "state of terror" after fearing Bernstein was texting photos of the encounter.

Senior deputy district attorney Walker argued that Woodward lies and the story he told on the stand is not the story he originally told investigators.

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

The defense will begin its closing argument Monday afternoon. The jury is expected to begin deliberating sometime next week