Preliminary hearing is set in O.C. slaying
Samuel Woodward has pleaded not guilty in the stabbing death of Blaze Bernstein, 19.
A hearing has been set for June to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to move to trial in the murder case against Samuel Woodward, the Newport Beach man accused in the stabbing death of 19-yearold Blaze Bernstein.
Woodward, 20, appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit in a Harbor Justice Center courtroom Friday and spoke briefly with his attorney before agreeing to set his preliminary hearing for June 14.
The hearing is expected to last half a day, attorneys told Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones.
Woodward pleaded not guilty last month to a murder charge and denied a sentencing enhancement allegation of personally using a deadly weapon, according to court records. Because Bernstein was gay and Jewish, authorities are investigating the possibility of also charging Woodward with a hate crime.
Woodward’s attorney, Edward Munoz, said his client is depressed in jail and feels remorse for his family.
Munoz said Woodward has been reading the Bible and faring relatively well under the circumstances.
Bernstein disappeared in January while visiting his family in Orange County while on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania. Authorities say they found his body buried at a park where he had gone with Woodward the night he disappeared.
Woodward, a former classmate of Bernstein’s at Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana, is being held in Orange County Jail with bail set at $5 million. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.