A jury in Orange County, California, found 26-year-old Sam Woodward guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder with a hate crime component in the 2018 death of Blaze Bernstein. His body was found days after he went missing, buried in a shallow grave in a Lake Forest park.
The jury reached its verdict after only one day of deliberation.
The judge silenced the courtroom as applause broke out as the verdict was read out.
The prosecution had argued that Woodward should be convicted of first-degree murder as a hate crime. Defense attorneys argued that Woodward should be convicted of manslaughter and acquitted of hate crime charges.
Jurors were also asked to consider second-degree murder. Closing arguments in the case began Friday, two and a half months after the lawsuit started in Santa Ana.
After the guilty verdict was read, Bernstein’s parents expressed their gratitude to the jury, the police and the “army of supporters and volunteers” who had supported them during the six-and-a-half-year ordeal.
“This was a great relief that justice was served and that this despicable human being who murdered our son will no longer be a threat to the public,” said his mother, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein. “We are grateful to the jury for their service and the long days and weeks they spent in that service. Justice was served.”
Sam Woodward was charged with stabbing Bernstein to death just over six years ago. The Newport Beach man admitted to stabbing Bernstein, a 19-year-old gay Jewish man, multiple times in 2018 but has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder for a hate crime.
Orange County District Attorney Jennifer Walker told the jury that Woodward stabbed Bernstein, his former high school classmate, because he was gay and buried his body in Borrego Park in Lake Forest.
“To dig a grave in that place, to bury someone, to clean them up and kill them in an hour and a half… that’s not someone who just thinks, ‘Oh, something happened and I have to figure it out.’ That’s determination,” Walker said.
Bernstein, a sophomore in college, was visiting his family during winter break in January 2018 when he is gone after going to a park in Lake Forest, California with Woodward. Woodward picked up Bernstein from his parents’ home after contacting him on social media.
Bernstein’s parents found his glasses, wallet and credit cards in his bedroom the next day after he missed a dentist appointment and did not respond to texts or phone calls, prosecutors wrote in a court document.
A few days later, Bernstein’s body was found in a shallow grave in the park.
The case took years to reach trial after questions were raised about Woodward’s mental state and defense attorneys changed. Woodward was deemed competent to stand trial in late 2022.
Woodward testified for several days and admitted to the jury that he had stabbed Bernstein multiple times.
DNA evidence linked Woodward to the murder and his cell phone contained treasure trove of anti-gay, anti-Semitic and hate group materialsaccording to the authorities.
“Now that the verdict has been announced, we are confident that justice has been done and that Blaze’s memory will be honored through this outcome,” said Pepper Bernstein.
