Samuel Woodward, a 27-year-old Southern California Catholic with ties to neo-Nazism, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the hate-crime killing of gay Jewish teen Blaze Bernstein in 2018.
Judge Kimberly Menninger delivered the sentence in a packed courtroom at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Friday morning. Woodward was not present due to illness and joined via webcam.
Woodward, a college dropout who was 20 at the time of the murder, admitted to stabbing his former high school classmate 28 times after he allegedly threatened to expose Woodward’s homosexuality. Jurors deemed Woodward to have killed the University of Pennsylvania sophomore because he was gay.
“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,” said Menninger.
“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 the psychological support he so clearly needed... 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.”
Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, parents of Blaze Bernstein, after sentencing for Samuel Woodward at Orange County Superior Court. Woodward was sentenced to life without parole for the 2018, fatal stabbing of his former classmate. #blazebernstein @ocregister pic.twitter.com/ZUeMx1mnNM
— Jeff Gritchen 🇺🇸 (@jeffgritchen) November 16, 2024
With ties to neo-Nazism and White supremacist influences more broadly, Woodward kept a personal journal describing plans to meet gay men and spook them with threats of violence. He also posted messages in web forums connected to the Atomwaffen Division hate group, which authorities have described as racist, homophobic, and antisemitic.
Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed trial proceedings, which also took a turn in March when jury selection was restarted after a physical outburst from Woodward led to Menninger declaring a mistrial. He was found guilty of murder with a hate crime enhancement in July.
Blaze’s parents, Jeanne Pepper and Gideon Bernstein began the #BlazeItForward campaign in the wake of their son’s death to use the tragedy as a signpost for healing. Its activities have included the creation of tribute rocks with inspirational messages that now rest at the Blaze Bernstein Memorial Rock Garden at Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, where the UPenn graduate-to-be spent his last moments while on Christmas break.
“[The stones] are getting sent to us from all around the world,” added Blaze’s father, a financial investment officer who is a former board chairman for the Jewish Community Foundation of Orange County.
After the killing and before his arrest, Woodward met with the Bernsteins and told them Blaze had wandered into the wilderness without a trace.
“This calm and earnest-sounding young man lied to us, the emphatic parents of the young man he had less than 24 hours before stabbed 28 times with a 6-inch blade and buried in a park by our home,” said Pepper Bernstein during a victim impact statement at Friday's sentencing.
“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.”
Woodward, whose family has been active in the Catholic community of Orange County, has been in custody since his arrest in 2018 and remains at the Orange County Central Men's Jail in Santa Ana. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison, originally said he would appeal the summer’s verdict.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
