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Samuel Woodward Sentenced to Life for 2018 Hate Crime Murder of Blaze Bernstein in Orange County

Nov 16, 2024, 01:39 AM

Samuel Woodward, a 27-year-old man from Newport Beach, California, was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the hate crime murder of his former classmate Blaze Bernstein. Bernstein, a 19-year-old gay and Jewish student at the University of Pennsylvania, was fatally stabbed on January 3, 2018, in Foothill Ranch, Orange County. Prosecutors stated that Woodward, convicted in July, killed Bernstein due to anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic hate motivated by his sexual orientation and religion. During the sentencing hearing, Bernstein's mother, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, and father, Gideon Bernstein, delivered emotional impact statements.