Man sentenced to life for hate-crime murder of teenager

A man convicted of the hate crime murder of a gay Jewish college student in California has been sentenced to life in prison.

Samuel Woodward is He was found guilty of first-degree murder in July. In the 2018 murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, Woodward apparently stabbed him more than 28 times in the face and neck.

Woodward’s attorneys petitioned for a reduced sentence, from just 28 years to life, on the grounds that the jury was not allowed to see all the evidence during the trial.

However, the judge sentenced Woodward to the maximum sentence without the possibility of parole. The death penalty is currently suspended in California..

At the sentencing hearing, Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, said: This was a hate crime. Samuel Woodward ended my son’s life because he was Jewish and gay. ”

Ms. Pepper was in court with her son’s family and friends wearing T-shirts that read “Blaze It Forward,” a campaign slogan urging others to do acts of kindness in Ms. Bernstein’s name. He appeared.

“Blaze’s memory and spirit will live on in every act of kindness done in his honor,” she said.

During the trial, Prosecutors said Woodward belonged to an anti-gay neo-Nazi group. He called the Atomwaffen department and linked his extremist views to the crime.

Woodward was nearly 10 years older than Bernstein, but the two previously attended the same Orange County high school. The court heard that Bernstein and Woodward arranged to meet via Snapchat in January 2018.

Woodward then became furious when Bernstein tried to kiss her, apparently thinking it was a date since the two had connected through a dating app several months earlier, and that Bernstein repeatedly tried to kiss her. I ended up stabbing it.

Bernstein’s body was found nearly a week later in a park in Lake Forest, near Los Angeles, and Woodward was arrested after his DNA was found in Woodward’s rental car.

Woodward’s lawyers argued that Bernstein’s death was not planned and that he was struggling with his sexuality as a result of growing up in a politically conservative Catholic family. The defense also said that because of Woodward’s undiagnosed autism, he was unsure of how to handle his personal relationships, both romantic and platonic.