Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #7 *Arrest*

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Thursday, June 14th:
*Preliminary Hearing Postponed! (@ 8:30am PT) – CA – Blaze Bernstein (19) (Jan. 2, 2018; found Jan. 9, 2018) – Samuel Lincoln Woodward (20) – arrested & charged (1/12/18) with 1 count of felony murder & sentencing enhancement: personal use of a knife. Plead not guilty; $5M bail. Still in jail.
2/2/18 update: Plead not guilty; Judge set bail at $5M with conditions: GPS surveillance, can't leave State, remains inside house 10:30pm-5am, surrender passport and protective order to stay away from Bernsteins. Postponed from 3/2/18.
6/13/18 Update: Prelim hearing postponed as Defense is not ready, no further dates yet.
 
Blaze Bernstein murder was hate crime, OCDA says

O.C. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said during a Thursday press conference that a hate crime allegation has been added against 21-year-old Samuel Woodward, who was charged with murder earlier this year.

Adding the hate crime allegation means Woodward, who was already facing 26 years to life in prison, could now face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"We will prove that Woodward killed Blaze because Blaze was gay," Rackauckas said.
 
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Given what we know about the sexual nature of the history between the victim and his killer, from the victim's own words in the summer of 2017 where shared that after they hooked up the he outed his killer to many people, the hate crime charge seems extremely misguided.
 
I'm so thankful they're prosecuting this as a hate crime.

Here's another news report.

Prosecution: California Killing Motivated By Anti-Gay Hate

Authorities had long said they were investigating the case as a possible hate crime. Bernstein was Jewish and gay.

Rackauckas declined to specify what materials were found in Woodward’s accounts, but he said they were racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic. He urged anyone with information showing Woodward had ties to hate groups to contact authorities. “There could be other charges filed as evidence develops,” he said.

“There’s a lot there that just spews hatred towards a lot of different groups of people, basically every protected group,” Rackauckas said. “So it’s hatred of many different groups of people. But the evidence of the motivation for this particular killing is we can show evidence that he killed him at least substantially because he was gay.”

When asked about an earlier media report allegedly linking Woodward to a neo-Nazi group, Rackauckas said he could not discuss it.

Under California law, prosecutors can seek the death penalty when a victim is killed because of race, religion or nationality, but not sexual orientation. Since Bernstein’s death, a state bill has been proposed to change that.


​
 
bbm :(

Newport Beach man charged with murdering Blaze Bernstein now also accused of hate crime

According to a report published in January by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, three people who knew Woodward said he was part of Atomwaffen Division, an armed fascist organization that aims to overthrow the U.S. government through guerrilla tactics and terrorism.

Rackauckas declined to comment about photographs that have been circulated online allegedly depicting Woodward with members of Atomwaffen Division.

Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, was seated in the front row during Thursday’s news conference and closed her eyes as Rackauckas described the brutality of her son’s slaying.

“Today we suffer an added layer of pain from learning that he was likely killed simply because of who he was as a human being,” said Bernstein’s father, Gideon Bernstein. “Our only objective at this point is to make sure that maximum sentencing is an option to ensure that no one is ever hurt or killed again by hate.”​
 
EuTuCroquet? said:
I'm so thankful they're prosecuting this as a hate crime.
Click to expand...

I would be interested to learn what you believe justifies it being prosecuted as a hate crime. (Then again, aren't ALL murderers crimes of hate? If you murder someone, even if they were your best friend, clearly you hated him in the moments you took his life...)

Unfortunately, by prosecuting this as a hate crime the door is now wide open for the defense to get the victims actions into evidence. What actions? The fact that the victim and his killer had relations of a sexual nature months before the murder (the fact that the killer is at least bisexual puts a monkey wrench in the whole hate crime thing). But, more importantly, this misguided charge benefits the defense more than anyone because all those text messages the victim sent immediately after they hooked up get into evidence AND the fact that the victim outed his killer to many people. The victim's words and actions will not be good for optics or donations to their foundation because they paint a very real, very ugly picture.

It does NOT in any way justify murder. The killer, if convicted, will be serving time for a very long time.
 
HastingsChi said:
I would be interested to learn what you believe justifies it being prosecuted as a hate crime. (Then again, aren't ALL murderers crimes of hate? If you murder someone, even if they were your best friend, clearly you hated him in the moments you took his life...)

Unfortunately, by prosecuting this as a hate crime the door is now wide open for the defense to get the victims actions into evidence. What actions? The fact that the victim and his killer had relations of a sexual nature months before the murder (the fact that the killer is at least bisexual puts a monkey wrench in the whole hate crime thing). But, more importantly, this misguided charge benefits the defense more than anyone because all those text messages the victim sent immediately after they hooked up get into evidence AND the fact that the victim outed his killer to many people. The victim's words and actions will not be good for optics or donations to their foundation because they paint a very real, very ugly picture.

It does NOT in any way justify murder. The killer, if convicted, will be serving time for a very long time.
Click to expand...


No, not all murders are "crimes of hate." That's a trope.

A murder can be a crime of rage, but rage isn't synonymous with a hate crime as defined by law. There's a difference, both legally and practically.

Similarly, it's like how "craziness" and "insanity" aren't synonymous, legally speaking.

Also, both of Blaze's and SM's personal lives will be put before the court, regardless, in my opinion. The lack of a hate-crime enhancement wouldn't necessarily preclude that.

One example of the upside of the hate crime enhancement:

It gives prosecutors the ability to further protect the victim, essentially, when SW's attorneys attempt to impugn Blaze and his lifestyle. (Because they will attempt to do this; it's practically a given, imo.)

For example, SM has alleged that Blaze made untoward advances on SM the night of Blaze's murder. Enter SM's "gay panic" defense. This hate crime add-on allows the prosecution to utilize evidence disproving any gay panic defense.

I hope I'm making sense. LOL. Agreed, though: I think it definitely makes the actual trial more complicated.

From Fox News:

"The evidence of the motivation for this particular killing is we can show evidence that he killed him, at least substantially, because he was gay," Rackauckas said.

Also: Here's a link to California's required jury instruction in hate crime enhancement consideration for murder cases. Interesting. And kinda complicated, imo.
 
HastingsChi said:
I would be interested to learn what you believe justifies it being prosecuted as a hate crime. (Then again, aren't ALL murderers crimes of hate? If you murder someone, even if they were your best friend, clearly you hated him in the moments you took his life...)

Unfortunately, by prosecuting this as a hate crime the door is now wide open for the defense to get the victims actions into evidence. What actions? The fact that the victim and his killer had relations of a sexual nature months before the murder (the fact that the killer is at least bisexual puts a monkey wrench in the whole hate crime thing). But, more importantly, this misguided charge benefits the defense more than anyone because all those text messages the victim sent immediately after they hooked up get into evidence AND the fact that the victim outed his killer to many people. The victim's words and actions will not be good for optics or donations to their foundation because they paint a very real, very ugly picture.

It does NOT in any way justify murder. The killer, if convicted, will be serving time for a very long time.
Click to expand...


Hate Crimes
 
EuTuCroquet? said:
No, not all murders are "crimes of hate." That's a trope.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your comment.

- The hate crime enhancement places the burden on the State to prove that the reason Woodward murdered Bernstein is because he is gay.

- To attempt to do this, the State will likely introduce social media comments allegedly posted by Woodward to prove this enhancement.

- The defense has even stronger evidence to disprove the State's theory (and in turn the enhancement); the victim's own words to others sharing the details of his sexual encounter with Woodward (and subsequent 'outing' of Woodward by Bernstein).

- Under California rules of evidence, if the State did not add the hate crime enhancement to the charges, the defense would not be able to introduce Bernstein's SMS messages about that encounter into evidence. Why? Those SMS exchanges would not be relevant if the issue was solely proving that Woodward killed Bernstein. However, they are essential evidence in disproving the hate crime enhancement; so they're in.

- With that in mind, there is a strong possibility that Bernstein's mobile communications and digital communications include things that have not been reported.

There are certainly many, many cases that a hate crime enhancement is appropriate, however this is not one of them since the victim's own communications, months before the murder, about a sexual encounter with his killer serves to disprove that charge.

Similarly, if the defense pushes some gay panic claim then they are as dumb as the prosecution given the fact that Woodward is bi or gay.

While it doesn't do anything to sway a jury to not find Woodward guilty of first degree murder, it seems that the most obvious, plausible motive is that Woodward killed Bernstein because he outed him to a lot of people right before he left CA for Penn. Winter break was the first time that he could confront him about it in person and Woodward let that anger build for months and exploded -- not because Bernstein is gay but because Bernstein lied to him and outed him.
 
HastingsChi said:
I appreciate your comment.

- The hate crime enhancement places the burden on the State to prove that the reason Woodward murdered Bernstein is because he is gay.

- To attempt to do this, the State will likely introduce social media comments allegedly posted by Woodward to prove this enhancement.

- The defense has even stronger evidence to disprove the State's theory (and in turn the enhancement); the victim's own words to others sharing the details of his sexual encounter with Woodward (and subsequent 'outing' of Woodward by Bernstein).

- Under California rules of evidence, if the State did not add the hate crime enhancement to the charges, the defense would not be able to introduce Bernstein's SMS messages about that encounter into evidence. Why? Those SMS exchanges would not be relevant if the issue was solely proving that Woodward killed Bernstein. However, they are essential evidence in disproving the hate crime enhancement; so they're in.

- With that in mind, there is a strong possibility that Bernstein's mobile communications and digital communications include things that have not been reported.

There are certainly many, many cases that a hate crime enhancement is appropriate, however this is not one of them since the victim's own communications, months before the murder, about a sexual encounter with his killer serves to disprove that charge.

Similarly, if the defense pushes some gay panic claim then they are as dumb as the prosecution given the fact that Woodward is bi or gay.

While it doesn't do anything to sway a jury to not find Woodward guilty of first degree murder, it seems that the most obvious, plausible motive is that Woodward killed Bernstein because he outed him to a lot of people right before he left CA for Penn. Winter break was the first time that he could confront him about it in person and Woodward let that anger build for months and exploded -- not because Bernstein is gay but because Bernstein lied to him and outed him.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know and agree with the facts listed here.

However, your opinions are yours. I disagree with your opinion that SW killed Blaze for being outed. It seems that prosecutors do, too.

To flip it, a “gay panic” or “heat of passion” defense could also argue SW killed Blaze because he panicked after being outed. That defense doesn’t work for me, either, tbh. And I’m thankful it can now be shot down in court.

SW can be gay and be a hate-motivated homophobic murderer. One doesn’t preclude the other. It’s like saying a white xenophobe motivated by hate isn’t a white xhenophobe motivated by hate (meaning the legal definition of hate) if he kills another white man **because** that man has Jewish ancestry, even if the victim had previously proven they both had Jewish ancestry.

That would be ridiculous, imo.

Plus, we don’t have all the facts in this case. The prosecutors do.
 
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University of Pennsylvania student murdered, left in shallow grave because he was gay: prosecutors

A hate crime sentencing enhancement was being added to a murder charge against 21-year-old Samuel Woodward in the death of 19-year-old sophomore Blaze Bernstein, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
...
With the change, Woodward faces a maximum potential sentence of life without parole. He previously faced a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in prison if he were convicted.
...
Rackauckas declined to specify what materials were found in Woodward’s accounts, but he said they were racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic. He urged anyone with information showing Woodward had ties to hate groups to contact authorities. “There could be other charges filed as evidence develops,” he said.

“There’s a lot there that just spews hatred towards a lot of different groups of people, basically every protected group,” Rackauckas said. “So it’s hatred of many different groups of people. But the evidence of the motivation for this particular killing is we can show evidence that he killed him at least substantially because he was gay.”
 
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