It has been more than six years since Blaze Bernstein, a University of Pennsylvania student who was gay and Jewish, was found stabbed to death in Lake Forest, California. On Tuesday, the trial of his alleged killer finally began.
Bernstein, who was 19 at the time of his disappearance in January 2018, was found at Borrego Park. A former classmate of his, Samuel Woodward, could end up serving life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the slaying and an enhancement for a hate crime.
Bernstein had been stabbed in the neck 19 times.
On Woodward’s phone, investigators found “a trove of anti-gay, anti-Jewish material linked to the Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist hate group,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
In addition to the physical evidence — investigators say Bernstein’s blood was found in Woodward’s car and on a knife at Woodward’s Newport Beach home — the alleged motivation elevates a murder to a possible hate crime. However, it remains to be seen if the hate crime allegation will stick during this trial.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker asserted in court on Tuesday that Woodward was “hunting” for a victim who fit his criteria.
“A basic principle of hunting is you determine what prey you’re after. Depending on what prey you’re looking for, you adjust what you’re going to do… The prey that the defendant had chosen was gay people,” she said.
That assertion has been disputed by Woodward’s counsel.
“There is this narrative that’s been pushed: Nazi kills gay Jew. From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Morrison said during a preliminary hearing, as reported by the Times.