A prosecutor argued Friday that the man charged with the hate-crime fatal stabbing of a former gay classmate in Foothill Ranch planned the killing and went to great lengths to cover it up, so jurors should convict him of premeditated murder.
Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 26, is charged with murder with a sentencing enhancement for a hate crime based on the sexual orientation of the victim, 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein. Woodward also faces a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Jurors will be able to consider first- and second-degree murder as well as voluntary manslaughter. The difference between murder and manslaughter is a life sentence versus a set amount of time in prison.
Because Woodward admitted in testimony killing Bernstein that part of the case is not in dispute. Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker focused most of her closing argument Friday on the hate crime, which alleges the killing was done because of the victim’s homosexuality, not because he was Jewish.
Walker acknowledged there was not enough evidence to allege Woodward killed Bernstein because he was Jewish, but the defendant’s association with the Atomwaffen Division neo-Nazi group was part of her argument of a pattern of bigotry. She also argued that Bernstein’s religion would “make it a double bonus” for the neo-Nazi group.
Walker argued it was irrelevant if Woodward had his own repressed homosexual tendencies as was shown in some evidence presented at trial.
“Is he gay,” Walker said of the defendant. “It does not matter.”
Walker argued whether Woodward was repressed and did not like that about himself or did it to win “prestige” from the neo-Nazi group then it fits the legal requirement for a hate crime.
The prosecutor noted the timing of the trial.
“It’s not lost on me that we’re trying this case during Pride Month,” Walker said. “We all know as a society this is an issue.”
Walker showed a photo of the defendant in a skull mask posing with a gun as evidence of his allegiance to the neo-Nazi group.
“This is a person focused on hate,” Walker said.
She dismissed suggestions that Woodward, who has been diagnosed with autism, was lured into the neo-Nazi group due to his disorder.
“He’s not a follower,” she said. “He’s not a victim by Atomwaffen. He was seeking it out.”
Walker argued that the skull mask had the victim’s DNA on it and questioned how that happened.
“Why are you bringing a skull mask? This is a ceremonial killing that will win him prestige” with Atomwaffen, Walker said.
Walker also ridiculed Wodward’s testimony that he took a couple of puffs of heady marijuana and fell into a haze when the two met up in a park near the victim’s home in the early hours of Jan. 3, 2018.
Walker said Woodward’s account of what happened in the park in his testimony differed notably in his statements to police.
“It was a whole new story,” she said.
Jurors were shown a two-hour video Thursday of Woodward’s conversation with investigators after the killing to show how “conversant he was,” which Walker said contrasted with the defendant’s halting, mumbling testimony.
Woodward at the time was speaking with Atomwaffen “people about going somewhere else… He thought he was going to get away with it,” Walker said.
Walker argued that Woodward enjoyed “catfishing” gay men on dating apps so he could “ghost” and “threaten them.” She said he used a photo of killer Charles Manson in a social media profile.
In a birthday card to his father he included the numbers 14/88, which is a reference to white supremacy and “Heil Hitler,” Walker said.
She also said he wrote down in a “diary of hate” that “text is boring, but murder isn’t.”
Showing the jurors a photo of Woodward making what appears to be a Nazi salute, she said, “This is pure hate.”
Walker dismissed testimony from the defendant’s psychiatric expert, Martha Rogers, who said Woodward has significantly declined while in custody the last six years. She alleged his long delays in responding to questions during testimony was a form of “malingering.”
The prosecutor faulted Rogers for not recording her interviews with the defendant and disagreed with the autism diagnosis. Instead, Walker said, the evidence indicates Woodward has antisocial conduct disorder and fits the profile of a “lone wolf” terrorist.
Walker argued that Woodward told police after his arrest that he rebuffed a kiss from Bernstein, but during his account in the trial he said he snapped out of his marijuana haze to the victim unbuckling his pants and touching him.
“He figures out that’s not a defense here,” Walker said of the rebuffed kiss. “So now it’s a new story.”
Woodward testified Bernstein said he called the defendant a “hypocrite” and appeared to be taking photos or videos of their encounter on his phone and texting. That would provide the provocation Woodward needs to make the case for manslaughter.
Walker said Atomwaffen members were sending letters to Woodward in jail encouraging him to “stay strong,” and that the correspondence was found in his jail cell in 2020.
Walker also brushed aside Woodward’s testimony that he used a folding knife in the killing and not a blade with his father’s name on it. The prosecutor argued it was convenient that the weapon used in the attack wasn’t found.
Woodward’s burying of the body, sending text messages to the victim to make it look like he went missing and he was concerned about him as well as attempts to clean up the victim’s blood in the car amounted to consciousness of guilt and his plan all along to commit the crime and get away with it, Walker argued.
Woodward’s attorney, Ken Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, will make his closing argument Monday afternoon.