Imperial Valley Press

California man to stand trial for gay student’s slaying

- Samuel Woodward leaves a court hearing at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, on Wednesday. Paul

NEWPORT BEACH (AP) — About six months before he was stabbed to death in what prosecutor­s call a hate crime, a gay University of Pennsylvan­ia student graphicall­y discussed hopes to have sex with the man now charged in his killing, an investigat­or said Tuesday.

Blaze Bernstein texted a friend a photo of Samuel Woodward and said the two had run into each other and he thought they were going to hook up, saying sex with the former schoolmate would be “legendary.”

What led to that encounter was not clear during Woodward’s preliminar­y hearing on murder and hate crime charges, but investigat­or Craig Goldsmith said among the anti-gay and hateful material found on his phone was mention of his efforts to pose as “gay curious” to attract men and then reveal it as a prank.

“That’s what they deserve,” Woodward wrote using an anti-gay slur.

Woodward, 21, was ordered to stand trial in Orange County Superior Court on murder and hate crime charges after prosecutor­s linked him to the stabbing through DNA and showed he had troves of homophobic and neo-Nazi material on his mobile phone. He has pleaded not guilty.

Woodward stabbed Bernstein nearly 20 times in the face and neck after the two met at a park in January, prosecutor­s said. The two had connected earlier in the evening on Snapchat and Woodward picked up Bernstein at his home.

Woodward told investigat­ors he was disgusted when Bernstein kissed him on the lips in his SUV and pushed him back, but didn’t say he did anything violent toward him.

Investigat­or Dylan Jantzen testified during the one-day hearing that Woodward said he wanted to curse at Bernstein and call the victim a slur for homosexual men.

Bernstein went missing Jan. 2 and Woodward was arrested about a week later after the body was found in a shallow grave in the Lake Forest park where they had gone that night.

Blood stains from the blade of a knife found in Woodward’s bedroom, under his watch and on the visor of his car matched Bernstein so closely that the chance of the genetic material coming from someone else was 1-in-atrillion, forensic scientist Corrie Maggay testified.

Defense lawyer Edward Munoz didn’t present any witnesses, but showed on cross-examinatio­n that Woodward revealed he had autism and was socially awkward and sexually confused.

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