A Newport Beach man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic hate crime killing of his former classmate, Blaze Bernstein.
Samuel Woodward, 27, was found guilty in July of first-degree murder with special allegations that the killing was motivated by hate and that it was committed using a weapon.
On Friday, Woodward refused to come out of his jail cell for a courtroom appearance during his sentencing in Orange County.
The trial, which began in April, came six years after Bernstein’s body was found in Lake Forest. The 19-year-old had been stabbed 28 times.
In the courtroom, Bernstein’s mother said her son was killed “because he was Jewish and gay.” She also called Woodward a “coward” for refusing to come out of his cell to face his sentencing.
Bernstein was killed in 2018 when he came home from the University of Pennsylvania for the holidays. Woodward had apparently used a dating app to search for someone who was Jewish and gay.
Investigators also found a trove of images and journal entries described as “graphic and chilling” on his personal devices and social media, including images that were racist, homophobic, antisemitic and anti-government.
He also wrote about posing as a gay man to “troll” men.
“I never thought I would smile again or be happy again,” Bernstein’s mother said. “But I stand here today relieved and happy that this sociopath will never live in Orange County again or murder anyone else’s children.”
