A 27-year-old man was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole Friday in an Orange County court docket for the 2018 hate crime homicide of his homosexual former classmate.
Samuel Lincoln Woodward He was discovered responsible in July for the dying of a 19-year-old younger man Blaze Bernsteinwhose physique was discovered days after he disappearedstabbed greater than 28 instances and buried in a shallow grave in Lake Forest Park.
The sentencing listening to was delayed about 5 hours, partly as a result of Woodward refused to come back to court docket. He additionally stormed out of the courtroom throughout sufferer impression statements delivered through the sentencing listening to.
DNA proof linked Woodward to the homicide, and his cellular phone contained troves of anti-gay, anti-Semitic and hate group suppliesauthorities mentioned.
Learn extra: Blaze Bernstein Homicide: Was an Ivy League Pupil Murdered within the Identify of Hate?
Woodward admitted to stabbing Bernstein, a 19-year-old homosexual Jewish man, a number of instances in 2018, however pleaded not responsible to homicide with a hate crime enhancement.
Prosecutors had argued that Woodward be convicted of first-degree homicide as a hate crime as a result of Bernstein was homosexual. Protection attorneys argued that Woodward must be discovered responsible of voluntary manslaughter and acquitted of hate crime prices.
The jury reached its verdict after deliberating for simply someday.
Woodward and Bernstein attended the Orange County Faculty of the Arts collectively for 4 years. After graduating, Bernstein turned a medical scholar on the College of Pennsylvania.
The sophomore was dwelling over winter break and visiting household in 2018 when he was killed.