California man sentenced to life for hate-crime murder of teenager

A man in California who was convicted of the hate-crime murder of a gay, Jewish university student has been sentenced to life in prison.

Samuel Woodward was convicted of first-degree murder in July for the 2018 murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, who Woodward apparently stabbed more than 28 times in the face and neck.

Woodward’s lawyer pleaded for a lesser sentence of just 28 years to life, citing the fact that the jurors were not permitted to see all evidence during the trial.

But the judge went ahead in giving Woodward the maximum sentence, without the possibility of parole, as there is currently a moratorium on the death penalty in California.

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

Pepper was joined by her son’s family and friends in the courtroom, who wore t-shirts reading ‘Blaze It Forward’, which is the slogan for a campaign which asks for others to commit acts of kindness in Bernstein’s name.

“Blaze’s memory and spirit will live on in every kind deed done in his honour,” she said.

During the trial, prosecutors said Woodward was affiliated with an anti-gay, neo-nazi group called Atomwaffen Division and linked his extremist views to the crime.

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

Woodward then became enraged after Bernstein tried to kiss him, apparently thinking it was a date because the two had connected through a dating app in the months prior, which led to the former repeatedly stabbing Bernstein.

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

Woodward’s lawyer argued that Bernstein’s death was not pre-meditated but that he was struggling with his sexuality due to growing up in a politically conservative, Catholic household. The defence also said Woodward was unsure of how to conduct personal relationships, both romantic and platonic, due to undiagnosed autism.