Samuel Woodward testified Tuesday that the night he killed former classmate Blaze Bernstein he initially reached out to Bernstein because he was looking for someone to hang out with, but Woodward’s testimony ended for the day before he could explain how their late-night meet-up ended with Bernstein’s violent death.
Woodward’s attorney has acknowledged that Woodward, then 20, killed 19-year-old Bernstein, his former Orange County School of the Arts classmate who agreed to meet up with Woodward while he was home for winter break from college in January 2018. But Woodward’s attorney has denied the prosecution’s contention that the slaying was a hate crime.
In the years since they both attended OCSA, Bernstein had gone off to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a pre-med student. Woodward had dropped out of college and briefly traveled to Texas to train with Atomwaffen Division, a Neo-Nazi extremist group, before moving back to his parent’s home in Newport Beach. Six months before the slaying, Woodward and Bernstein had connected on the Tinder dating app and carried out an at-times flirtatious conversation.
Woodward — who grew up in a conservative, religious family and had a campus reputation for making at-times homophobic statements — denied knowing that Bernstein was gay when their Tinder conversations began in June 2017. Six months later, Woodward reached out to Bernstein in a conversation that started on Tinder and moved to Snapchat.
During his third day of testimony on Tuesday, Woodward — who has been described as a social outcast who is on the Autism spectrum — said he told Bernstein that he had been “looking a long time for people to meet up with, talk to, smoke with, go to all sorts of recreational things.” But Woodward added that he also told Bernstein that it was “really awkward, because of who he was.”
“At that point he pretty much said, ‘Don’t worry, I get it, completely understand,’” Woodward said.
“Do you recall, ultimately, who made the move to get together that night?” Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison asked.
“I’m pretty sure I said we should hang out at some point … and he said he was actually free (that) night, right now,” Woodward replied. “He said something else that was basically an offer to if I wanted to come over. At that point I said “Alright, cool.”
Woodward said he drove to Bernstein’s family home in Lake Forest, and Bernstein got in his car. Bernstein gave him directions, Woodward said, and they drove to Borrego Park. The two got out of the car, Woodward testified, sat on a park bench for a bit and then walked back to his car.
The hearing ended for the day before Woodward could testify to what came next. Bernstein reported missing by his parents the day after he met up with Woodward. His body was discovered six days later, buried at the edge of the park with nearly 30 stab wounds.
Earlier on Tuesday, Woodward testified about his ties to Atomwaffen. He joined up with the group’s members out of a desire for “family, camaraderie and brotherhood,” Woodward confirmed under questioning by his attorney.
“When you decided, Sam, to affiliate yourself with or join up with the people in Atomwaffen, what did you hope to get from them, what was in it for you?” The defense attorney asked.
“That I might have people who could make me a part of something,” Woodward replied, comparing it to joining a sports team. “Men who just set examples for each other and can show each other how to elevate each other to the greatest heights they can possibly be.”
Woodward described being a “very close acquaintance” of people who were in Atomwaffen, appearing to slightly distance himself from full membership in the group. But his attorney showed the jury a photo of Woodward standing next to prominent neo-Nazi James Mason, whose book “Siege” includes attacks on gay and Jewish people and a desire to bring chaos to society, beliefs Atomwaffen members embrace. Bernstein was Jewish.
Woodward also testified that during his time awaiting trial, he has been assaulted behind bars around a dozen times.
With the courthouse closed on Wednesday for Juneteenth, Woodward is scheduled to return to the stand on Thursday morning.
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