I can’t believe his Mother is defending him. If things were so bad at home they could have tried family counseling.I can't believe it!! I got an article in my alerts on this case! And it is dated June 5th - so I am going to guess that this happened on 6/4/24... Tuesday.
In Blaze Bernstein murder trial, mother of accused testifies about his troubled childhood
Samuel Woodward's mother Michele was evasive on the stand, and admitted she cared about how the family and her older son Clay were portrayed.forward.com
June 5, 2024
SANTA ANA, Calif. – With her son facing first-degree murder and hate crime charges for the death of Blaze Bernstein, Michele Woodward provided hundreds of pages of family history to aid his defense.
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In his opening statement, Samuel Woodward’s attorney said those documents — along with hours of interviews she had given defense investigators — would help establish that he grew up in a toxic home, leaving him vulnerable to neo-Nazi recruitment as he sought acceptance outside of it.
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With the defense now calling witnesses — Michele Woodward was its second — the facts of the case have largely been established. Samuel Woodward’s attorney in his opening statement conceded his client, then 20, stabbed 19-year-old Bernstein to death on the night of Jan. 2, 2018, then buried his body in an Orange County park. What’s contested is the defendant’s state of mind leading up to the killing — whether, as prosecutors allege, he plotted to murder his gay and Jewish former high school classmate, or whether he reacted violently to something Bernstein did or said that night.
Yet something strange happened with Michele Woodward under oath: She had trouble remembering many of the things she had once vividly described. Looking at the evidence she herself had provided — among it report cards, medical records, journal entries and handwritten correspondence — hardly helped refresh her memory.
A lot more in the article in some detail on what his mother testified to. Looks like she is a defense witness. His father & bro will be testifying & Sam also according to this article.
He could have taken medication for what she is claiming. If they didn’t do these things, why not? It may have been a stigma thing since she is a counselor.