Samuel Woodward, a California man accused of murdering his former classmate in 2018, has been found guilty in the hate crime case.
Blaze Bernstein — a 19-year-old gay, Jewish student at the University of Pennsylvania — went missing while visiting his family in Newport Beach during winter break in January 2018. His body was found following a dayslong search buried in a park in Lake Forest he went to with Woodward the night he went missing, authorities said. He had been stabbed 28 times, prosecutors said.
Woodward, now 26, was charged with first-degree murder with hate crime enhancement. Prosecutors had alleged that Woodward murdered his high school classmate because Bernstein was gay.
Woodward had pleaded not guilty.
Samuel Woodward testifies in Orange County Superior Court, on June 13, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif.
Orange County Register via MediaNews Group via Getty Images, FILE
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