A ‘closeted’ Neo-Nazi has been convicted of the hate crime murder of his gay former schoolmate.
Samuel Woodward, 26, was found guilty of killing 19 year-old Blaze Bernstein by jurors in Los Angeles Wednesday.
Woodward and Bernstein met over Christmas 2018 after Bernstein – who was also Jewish – spotted his former classmate on Tinder and struck up a conversation.
Bernstein was visiting family in California on winter break when he went out with Woodward and disappeared.
His body was found days later buried in a shallow grave at Borrego park in Lake Forest, having been repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck.
Samuel Woodward, pictured here last month, was found guilty of killing 19 year-old Blaze Bernstein by jurors in Los Angeles Wednesday
Bernstein, seen here, was visiting family in California on winter break when he went out with Woodward and disappeared
According to NBC Los Angeles, there were audible cheers in the courtroom after Woodward was also found to have committed a hate crime.
The two men attended the same high school, the Orange County School of the Arts and reconnected on the dating app Tinder only months before the attack while Bernstein was home, according to testimony from the months-long trial.
Prosecutors allege that Woodward singled out the gay, Jewish college sophomore after joining the violent, anti-gay, anti-Semitic group known as Atomwaffen Division.
Woodward claims he was never a full-fledged member and simply joined because he had a ‘desire to form a meaningful connection with a group.’
His defense said that Woodward did not hate Bernstein and didn’t plan to kill him, but that Woodward was conflicted by own sexuality and acted in a fit of rage.
They also argued that Woodward’s undiagnosed autism left him vulnerable to being recruited into white supremacist groups.
The question during the trial has not been whether Woodward killed Bernstein but the reasons for the killing and circumstances under which it occurred.
The case has taken years to come to court. Woodward is seen here with a markedly different appearance at a court hearing in January 2018
Blaze Bernstein’s parents read a statement at a press conference in front of the Orange County Sheriff’s department after their son’s body was found a week after he had disappeared
Scenes from the alleged murder have been presented to the jury during the trial. Bernstein’s shallow grave is seen here
In his testimony, Woodward gave a chilling account during the trial and recalled how he repeatedly stabbed the college sophomore after trying to grab a cellphone he feared he had used to photograph him.
The charge against Woodward had included enhancements for a hate crime and the personal use of a deadly weapon.
He now faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced, a date for which has not been scheduled.
The case took years to go to trial after questions arose about Woodward’s mental state and following multiple changes in defense attorneys. Woodward was deemed competent to stand trial in late 2022.
