Samuel Woodward sentenced to life in prison for murdering a gay American student

A California man found guilty of murdering a gay, Jewish American college student in a hate crime has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Samuel Woodward, 27, was convicted in July of the 2018 death of Blaze Bernstein, 19, who stabbed Woodward more than 28 times in the face and neck before burying his body.

After a weeklong search, police found Bernstein’s body in a park in Lake Forest, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

During the trial, prosecutors said Woodward had ties to a neo-Nazi extremist group, the Atomwaffen Division, and accused him of hatefully attacking gay men online.

The sentencing hearing was postponed for several hours, in part because Woodward refused to leave his cell.

At one point he also stormed out of the courtroom during victim impact statements.

“No mother should have to bury her child… my heart was so broken and yet I could not accept the reality that he was no longer part of our world,” the victim’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, said in court.

“I will never forget the first time I heard that Blaze had been stabbed 28 times,” she added. “It’s the worst and most painful thing that has ever happened to me, to know that he died in such a horrible, horrible way.”

Ken Morrison, his lawyer, previously said he would appeal a guilty verdict.

Woodward’s lawyers had argued that he had a long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder that challenged Woodward’s personal relationships.

The trial was delayed for years after questions arose about Woodward’s mental health, but in late 2022 he was deemed competent to stand trial.

He ended up spending five days testifying at the trial, sometimes taking long periods of time before responding to simple questions.

In January 2018, Bernstein and Woodward met for a night out, arranged via Snapchat, Woodward later told police.

He became furious after Bernstein kissed him. Woodward then stabbed Bernstein repeatedly as he fought over a cell phone that Woodward believed Berstein was using to photograph him.

Bernstein’s parents were alerted after he missed a dentist appointment the next day and attempted to contact him several times.

They searched his social media and discovered that Bernstein and Woodward had communicated via Snapchat.

A week later, police found Bernstein’s body with stab wounds in a park near the Bernstein family home.

Woodward was arrested after Bernstein’s DNA was found in his rental car.

While searching Woodward’s home, police found a black Atomwaffen mask, a pocket knife with traces of blood and a diary full of hateful, anti-gay, anti-Semitic material, the Associated Press reported.

Woodward’s attorney said he was confused about his sexuality because he had grown up in a Catholic home where homosexuality was openly criticized.

In the months before the attack, Woodward and Bernstein connected through a dating app.

When they met, Bernstein was visiting his family in Southern California during a winter break from the University of Pennsylvania.

The two had previously attended the same high school in Orange County.