Bernstein was Jewish, gay, quick-witted and smart, and with a large circle of friends. The sentencing hearing was held without Woodward appearing in court.

A 27-year-old man was sentenced to life without possibility of parole Friday in an Orange County court for the 2018 hate-crime killing of his gay former classmate. Samuel Lincoln Woodward was found guilty in July for the death of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein,

Samuel Lincoln Woodward was found guilty in July for the death of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, whose body was found days after he went missing, stabbed over 28 times and buried in a shallow grave at a Lake Forest Park.

Samuel Woodward, who espoused anti-gay rhetoric and had ties to Atomwaffen, a neo-Nazi group, stabbed his victim 28 times in a hate-fueled murder, prosecutors said.

A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life without parole in prison. Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced in a Southern California courtroom at the end of an all-day hearing for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago.