Man Sentenced to Life for Murder of Gay Jewish Student
Samuel Woodward, who had Neo-Nazi ties, was found guilty last July of stabbing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, 28 times.
A California man with neo-Nazi ties convicted of murdering a gay, Jewish University of Pennsylvania student has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Samuel Woodward, 27, was convicted in July for the 2018 fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein. He was sentenced last Friday in a Southern California courtroom.
Woodward stabbed the college sophomore, with whom he had attended high school, 28 times in the face and head and buried Bernstein’s body in a shallow grave.
During sentencing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger said that evidence presented at trial showed Woodward had planned the murder. She refused to override the jury’s findings that the crime had been motivated, in part, by Bernstein being gay. She denied Woodward probation, noting that he had not shown any signs of remorse for the crime, which she called a “true tragedy.”
“You have one young man who was smart, funny, successful, and on track for a bright future, with tremendous family support and a large group of friends,” she said during sentencing. “You have a second, intelligent young man with lots of promise, but struggling with his sexual identity, his mental health and his loneliness and never receiving psychological support he so clearly needed.”
Menninger added that it was “really sad” that two people from the same high school found themselves on opposite sides of a “culture war” that contributed to Bernstein’s slaying.
“Unfortunately for Mr. Woodward, the hate that fueled his thoughts was super disconcerting to this court and unfortunately reflects a larger societal ill that’s currently raging throughout this country,” she said.
Jeanne Pepper, Bernstein’s mother, told the Associated Press she takes solace in Woodward never being released, saying that while he “rots in prison, we will be here on the outside, celebrating the life of Blaze.”
“Let’s be clear: This was a hate crime,” Pepper told the court before Menninger announced the sentence. “Samuel Woodward ended my son’s life because my son was Jewish and gay.”
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