Samuel Woodward is convicted of killing gay former classmate Blaze Bernstein in hate crime murder
A ‘closeted’ neo-Nazi has been convicted of the hate crime and murder of his former gay schoolmate.
Samuel Woodward, 26, was found guilty by a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday of the murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein.
Woodward and Bernstein met over Christmas 2018, after Bernstein — who was also Jewish — ran into his former classmate on Tinder and struck up a conversation.
Bernstein was visiting his family in California during the winter holidays when he went out with Woodward and disappeared.
A few days later, his body was found in a shallow grave in Borrego Park in Lake Forest, having been stabbed repeatedly in the face and neck.
According to NBC Los Angelesthere was loud cheering in the courtroom after it was determined that Woodward had also committed a hate crime.
Samuel Woodward, pictured here last month, was found guilty by jurors in Los Angeles on Wednesday of the murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein
Bernstein, seen here, was visiting family in California during the winter holidays when he went out with Woodward and disappeared
The two men attended the same high school, the Orange County School of the Arts, and had only reconnected on the dating app Tinder several months before the attack, when Bernstein was home, according to testimony from the months-long trial.
Prosecutors say Woodward specifically targeted the gay, Jewish sophomore after he joined the violent, anti-gay, anti-Semitic group Atomwaffen Division.
Woodward claims he was never a full member and simply joined because he “felt the need to build a meaningful connection with a group.”
His defense argued that Woodward did not hate Bernstein and did not intend to kill him, but that Woodward was struggling with his own sexuality and that he acted in a fit of rage.
They also argued that Woodward’s undiagnosed autism made him vulnerable to recruitment by white supremacist groups.
The question at trial was not whether Woodward killed Bernstein, but what were the reasons for the murder and under what circumstances it took place.
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