SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California man was convicted of murder with a hate crime enhancement Wednesday for the 2018 stabbing death of a gay University of Pennsylvania student.
Samuel Woodward, 26, was found guilty of first-degree murder plus the enhancement in the killing of Blaze Bernstein, a gay, Jewish college sophomore who was home visiting his family in Southern California on winter break when he went missing. Authorities scoured the area for him and found his body a week later in a shallow grave at a nearby park.
The question during the monthslong trial was not whether Woodward killed Bernstein but why, and the circumstances under which it happened. During closing arguments, prosecutor Jennifer Walker emphasized Woodward's affiliation with a violent, anti-gay, neo-Nazi extremist group known as Atomwaffen Division.
“This is a person focused on hate,” Walker said. “Not following, not being led by, influenced by, victimized by Atomwaffen — seeking it out.”