Hate crime killing of gay Jewish college student lands California man in prison for life
SANTA ANA, Calif.— A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life without parole in prison.Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced in a Southern California courtroom at the end of an all-day hearing for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago.
Woodward, who did not appear in court Friday due to illness, was convicted this year of first-degree murder with an enhancement for a hate crime for killing Bernstein, a gay, Jewish college sophomore.Dozens of Bernstein ‘s relatives and friends sat in the courtroom.Many wore T-shirts reading “Blaze it Forward,” a slogan for a campaign to commit acts of kindness in his name following his death.“Let’s be clear: This was a hate crime,” Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, told the court.
“Samuel Woodward ended my son’s life because my son was Jewish and gay.”She said she takes solace in Woodward never getting out of custody and that while he “rots in prison, we will be here on the outside, celebrating the life of Blaze.”“Blaze’s memory and spirit will live on in every kind deed done in his honor,” she said.There was no question about the sentence Woodward would receive because the jury’s verdict carried a life sentence without parole, said Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office.Woodward’s lawyer, Ken Morrison, asked the court to sentence his client to 28 years to life, saying the judge had some discretion in this regard and that the jurors were not permitted to see all the evidence in the case at trial.Morrison previously said he would appeal the verdict.Bernstein, who was 19, disappeared in January 2018 after he went out at night with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, about 45 mile southeast of Los Angeles.
After Bernstein missed a dentist appointment the next day, his parents found his glasses, wallet and credit cards in his bedroom and tried to reach ...