Samuel Woodward's defense team argued at trial that their client was conflicted by his own sexuality and did not hate Blaze Bernstein or plan to kill him that night.
"Hey man, life is good."
That is the text that Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 26, sent to a friend just a few hours after burying his former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein in a shallow grave while he was back home visiting his family in California over the holidays, according to officials.
Six years after the horrific attack, a jury has convicted Woodward of first-degree murder along with a hate crime enhancement and personal use of a knife following a three-month trial. Bernstein was gay and Jewish, but the hate crime enhancement pertained to his sexuality and not his religious beliefs.
Woodward and Bernstein both had attended the Orange County School of the Arts and had connected online while Bernstein was home for winter break, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Bernstein was on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania when he agreed to meet with Woodward on the night of Jan. 2, 2018.
Unbeknownst to Bernstein was the fact that while he was studying pre-med at an Ivy League institution 3,000 miles from home, Woodward had traveled to Texas to study and train with the Neo-Nazi and homophobic group Atomwaffen, according to the DA. Woodward then pledged allegiance to the group and "continued to draw pictures related to Atomwaffen and their beliefs following his arrest for Bernstein’s murder," said a spokesperson for the DA.
Investigators also discovered what prosecutors referred to as a "hate diary" kept by Woodward. That diary contained slurs for gay men and detailed how Woodward would connect with men online and lure them into believing he was "bi-curious" but then unfriend them, prosecutors said at trial.
Woodward picked up Bernstein near his house shortly after 11 p.m. and drove to a nearby park for what Bernstein believed was a romantic encounter between the two, according to online communications between the two men obtained by the DA.
Once at the park, prosecutors said that Woodward stabbed Bernstein 28 times and then disposed of his body in a shallow grave.
Bernstein's parents reported him missing the following day. His body was discovered a week later when heavy rains washed away the dirt in his makeshift grave.
Investigators were then tipped off to Woodward as a suspect when Bernstein's parents reviewed his online communications in the hours before his death, said prosecutors. Woodward admitted to meeting Bernstein but told police he walked away from Bernstein with an "unknown person" after the two arrived at the park, according to the DA.
Police were able to obtain a search warrant and found Bernstein's blood on a knife belonging to Woodward, as well as the skull mask he wore to represent his allegiance to Atomwaffen, said prosecutors.
Woodward's defense team argued at trial that their client was conflicted by his own sexuality and did not hate Bernstein or plan to kill him that night. His lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.
"Every one of the 28 stab wounds inflicted on 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein was an act of hate that was carried out over and over again not just to kill Blaze, but to send a message," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said after the jury returned its verdict.
He went on to say: "Samuel Woodward is someone who educated himself on how and who to hate, who surrounded himself with other people full of hate, and carried out the ultimate act of hate– brutally stabbing someone to death because they embody everything you hate simply because of who they love."
Woodward will be sentenced on Oct. 25 and is facing the possibility of life without parole.
