Blaze Bernstein Murder: Suspected Killer Resumes Testimony in Alleged Anti-Gay, Anti-Semitic Hate Crime

Samuel Woodward, the alleged killer of his former classmate Blaze Bernstein in what prosecutors say was an anti-LGBTQ and anti-Jewish hate crime, returned to the stand at his trial in Santa Ana on Monday.

Woodward took the stand for the first time Thursday in what the Orange County Register described as “early testimony” that did not address many of the major issues in the case, including Bernstein's murder, ties of Woodward with a racially motivated hate group, Woodward's creation of what prosecutors described as a “hate diary” or what Woodward's attorney described as Woodward's struggles with his sexuality.

The trial, which began in April, comes six years after Bernstein was found stabbed to death in Lake Forest.

Bernstein, who was Jewish and gay, attended the University of Pennsylvania but was back home in Orange County in January 2018 when his body was discovered in a shallow grave in Borrego Park.

“A variety of forensic evidence – including a knife found in Woodward's bedroom with blood matching Bernstein's through DNA – helped investigators link Woodward – the last person known to have seen Bernstein alive — to murder,” The Register reported.

Woodward's attorney disputed that his client was motivated by hatred toward Jews or the LGBTQ community.

“There is this narrative that has been pushed: the Nazis are killing gay Jews. From a defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” deputy public defender Kenneth Morrison said during a preliminary hearing, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.