California neo-Nazi-affiliate receives life sentence for murder of Jewish student

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 27, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday by an Orange County court for the murder of 19-year-old Jewish student Blaze Bernstein, according to international media reports. 

Woodward was absent from the proceedings, claiming he was sick, thus he did not listen to the victim statements read by Bernstein’s family.

He will be eligible for a youth offender hearing after 25 years in prison.

Bernstein was reported missing by his parents in 2018, having failed to show up to a dentist appointment. His body was discovered several days later in a shallow grave in Lake Forest Park with over 28 stab wounds, according to CBS News. 

The young student had been a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania before he was killed. Prosecutors believe he was targeted because of his homosexual identity. The LA Times reported in July, after Woodward was found guilty, that the hate crime enhancement was not added for the victim's religious identity.

Woodward is reportedly associated with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, according to multiple reports. Prosecutors claimed that Woodward had committed the murder to gain esteem with the group. Woodward's attorney, Ken Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, denied that Woodward genuinely held those views, arguing that he had been drawn to the group over a desire to make friends - something Morrison claimed he struggled with due to his autism.

Evidence against Woodward

In the days leading up to the murder, Bernstein reportedly encouraged Woodward to return to college and not give up on making friends. 

DNA found on Bernstein’s body led investigators to Woodward, Bernstein’s former classmate. The investigators would later find a trove of antisemitic, homophobic, and hate group materials on his personal devices, authorities said.

While Woodward reportedly admitted to stabbing Bernstein in 2018, he later pled not guilty to murder with an enhancement for a hate crime. 

Bernstein’s blood was found on the knife of Woodward’s father, according to the LA Times. However, Woodward claimed to have used a different knife.

Woodward later testified in court that Bernstein had touched his groin area after the pair had smoked cannabis together, sparking fears in Woodward over the response of his family. Woodward also claimed that Bernstein threatened to “out” him as gay.

Victim testimonies

Bernstein’s mother denied that Woodward’s claims were true, and recounted how painful the proceedings had been for her.

"This calm and earnest-sounding young man lied to us, the emphatic parents of the young man. He had less than 24 hours before [he] stabbed 28 times with a 6-inch blade and buried in a park by our home. He misled us to believe that Blaze had wandered off into a park by our home that leads into the wilderness behind our house," Jeanne Pepper, Bernstein’s mother, told the court in a witness statement, according to ABC7 News.

"As the search began the next day, tremendous law enforcement and resources came to our aid to search the forest, the park, and the internet for clues. His killer also showed up that day at the park and then went home to clean his car of any evidence...I'm so scared thinking that my child is injured, lost in the woods, or being held by an extremist neonazi group. Then we got the phone call on January 10, my father's birthday. They found my son's body in the mud in the park.

"How could this be happening? No mother should have to bury her child... my heart was so broken and yet unable to accept the reality that he was no longer part of our world. I was not told the details of how he was killed because I was having trouble coping with the reality of his death. I will never forget hearing for the first time that Blaze had been stabbed 28 times while I was listening to the news while I was in the park where his body was found. I collapsed on the ground, screaming. That was one of the many panic attacks I would have that first year."

"It's the single worst, most painful thing that has ever happened to me to know that he died in such a horrific, horrible way, stabbed to death by someone claiming to be a classmate from high school," she said. "When I think of his final moments, it horrifies me so much I used to have panic attacks just thinking about it. Sleepless nights."

"I never thought I would smile again or be happy again, but I stand here today relieved and happy that this sociopath will never live in Orange County again or murder anyone else's children... while Sam rots in prison, we will be here on the outside celebrating the life of Blaze, and continuing to do good with others who work every day to make this world more caring, kind and safe for the Jewish and LGBTQ communities," Pepper concluded.