Samuel Woodward’s attorney admits his client killed a gay Jewish teen but denies it was a hate crime

Alienated, alone, and “hungry for validation,” Samuel Woodward found a brief sense of acceptance within the Atomwaffen Division, which preached America’s imminent collapse and consciously targeted the ostracized and bullied for the recruiting, Woodward’s lawyer said Tuesday.

In his opening statement at Woodward’s murder trial, Deputy Public Defender Ken Morrison acknowledged that his client was responsible for the death of Blaze Bernstein, 19, who was Jewish and gay. But despite Woodward’s association with Atomwaffen, which is considered a hate group, the lawyer insisted that Woodward was not motivated by intolerance and did not premeditate the killing.

“What happened that night, plain and simple, was not a hate crime,” Morrison told jurors in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Woodward, 26, faces a first-degree murder charge along with a hate crime charge for Bernstein’s death. He faces life in prison if convicted of the charges.

Bernstein, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, was home with his family for the holidays in Lake Forest when he disappeared on January 2, 2018. A week later, his body was found under a thin layer of dirt in the neighboring Borrego Park. He and Woodward had attended the Orange County School of the Arts together.

“The ‘why’ is the most important question for you to decide, not who,” Morrison said. “Blaze Bernstein’s sexual orientation had absolutely nothing to do with why he was killed. …(He) was not killed because of who he was but because of what he did to Sam Woodward after they met.

Morrison did not explain what he meant about Bernstein’s actions. Instead, he painted a picture of his client – ​​who sat at the defense table in a dark suit with messy black hair falling in his face – as a socially awkward young man who had suffered since years of undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder and couldn’t make friends.

“His ASD went undiagnosed and untreated for most of his life,” Morrison said. Woodward’s parents “wanted so much for Sam to appear normal and healthy” and thought that perhaps “through force of will and prayer they could help him appear normal.”

Woodward thrived as an Eagle Scout but was tormented by his sexuality, raised in Newport Beach in an “unacceptable home” by a conservative Catholic family, with a father who considered homosexuality a sin, the lawyer said of the defense.

After briefly attending the Cal State Channel Islands, Woodward returned to live with his parents. He became involved with the Atomwaffen division, traveling to a “hate camp” organized by the group in Texas and posing for a photo with James Mason, author of “Siege,” considered the group’s bible.

Disputing what he called the prosecution’s “hyperbolic and sensationalist” account that “Nazis kill gay Jews,” the defense attorney said Woodward did not kill Bernstein in service of the group or of his ideology.

Dist. deputy. Atty. Jennifer Walker told jurors that Woodward was so involved with the Atomwaffen division that he designed tests for potential recruits to test their knowledge of its doctrines, and that he killed Bernstein “because he was gay.” .

On Dec. 19, two weeks before the murder, Woodward drew a skull and a bloody knife on a napkin and scribbled the words “the text is boring but the murder is not,” the prosecutor said.

Woodward’s diary showed he liked to prank gay people on social media by pretending he was bicurious, getting their attention and then threatening them. The prosecutor said Woodward applied principles from his Eagle Scout training to target Bernstein.

“If it’s fishing, what type of lure are you going to use?” » said Walker. In this case, “the prey…were homosexuals.”

The men exchanged flirty messages on January 2. Woodward said that even though he was straight, “I could make an exception for you.” Woodward picked him up from Foothill Ranch shortly afterward, and Bernstein’s parents were alarmed when he missed a dentist appointment the next day.

When the parents arrived at Woodward, alerted by their son’s social media activity that Woodward was likely the last to see him, Woodward said he had spent time with Bernstein but that Bernstein had left in the park without him.

On January 4, Woodward texted Bernstein’s father: “Mr. Bernstein, this is Sam. Have we heard from Blaze?” The father replied, “Thanks Sam. We’re still looking for him.”

Investigators searched the park for a week, but Bernstein’s body was not discovered until heavy rains washed away just enough mud to expose him. He had 28 stab wounds, Walker told jurors, many of them to the neck, with defensive wounds to his hands. “Blaze fought as hard as he could for his life,” she said.

Sheriff’s investigators later discovered Bernstein’s blood on Woodward’s watch, on a folding knife discovered in his office and on a sleeping bag hidden next to his house. Additionally, pings from Woodward’s cell phone showed him moving into the area of ​​the burial just before midnight on January 2.

Morrison had not finished his opening statement by the end of court Tuesday. He said he expects Woodward to take the stand. The trial will resume on Wednesday and is expected to last until the end of June.