After numerous delays in court proceedings, the trial for the man accused of murdering former College sophomore Blaze Bernstein will start on Tuesday.
The trial for Samuel Woodward, the man accused of murdering Bernstein, was originally scheduled to start in 2021, but was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an outburst from Woodward in court during jury selection. The trial is estimated to last between two and three months.
Prosecutors have argued that the murder of Bernstein, who was openly gay and Jewish, was a hate crime. If convicted, Woodward could face life in state prison without parole.
Edward Muñoz — Woodward’s attorney in the months after his initial arrest — contended that Woodward had Asperger’s syndrome and told reporters that his client faced “certain social challenges due to autism." Muñoz is no longer involved with the case.
Woodward's current attorney Kenneth Morrison cautioned "everyone to respect our judicial process and wait until a jury is able to see, hear and evaluate all the evidence before jumping to conclusions about exactly what happened.”
Muñoz and Morrison did not respond to requests for comment.
Bernstein was a College sophomore when he went missing in Orange County, Calif. in January 2018 while visiting family over winter break. On Jan. 9, 2018, authorities found a body in Borrego Park, Orange County. Investigators identified the body as Bernstein.
On Jan. 10 of that year, the death was ruled a homicide. Woodward, who attended high school with Bernstein at the Orange County School of the Arts, was charged with his murder on Jan. 17. A subsequent ProPublica report found that Woodward was part of an extremist, neo-Natzi group called the Atomwaffen Division.
The Anti-Defamation League described the Atomwaffen Divison as “a loose group of neo-Nazis” who had been zeroing in on college campuses. The group allegedly had a hand in circulating racist flyers which appeared at a range of American universities, including Penn, in late 2016.
The ProPublica report stated that it had obtained photo evidence of Woodward attending an Atomwaffen meeting in the Texas countryside. He was pictured in a mask making the Nazi salute, and other pictures show him barefaced and identifiable.
Prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to order Woodward to stand trial for both murder and hate crime charges in 2018, according to US News & World. This evidence included the DNA results from blood stains and homophobic and anti-Semitic messages in Woodward’s phone.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
