That Woodward, then 20, killed 19-year-old Bernstein — a former Orange County School of the Arts classmate — hasn’t been disputed during his murder trial. But the defense has denied the prosecutions’ contention that Woodward carried out the slaying because Bernstein was gay. A hate crime would carry a lengthier sentence.

Woodward grew up in a conservative, religious family, is on the Autism spectrum and was a social outcast at OCSA, according to trial testimony, where his more conservative beliefs and at-times apparently homophobic comments were at odds with his more liberal classmates.

In the years since their shared time at OCSA, Bernstein had enrolled as a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania, while Woodward had dropped out of college, moved to Texas to train with Atomwaffen Division — a Neo-Nazi extremist group — and then moved back in with his parents in Newport Beach.

The prosecution has argued that Woodward’s beliefs led him to target Bernstein due to his sexuality. The defense has countered by describing Woodward as being confused about his own sexuality, though Woodward has seemingly denied that during his testimony.

Woodward previously said that in January 2018 he reached out to Bernstein — who was visiting family in Lake Forest on winter break — because he was looking for someone to hang out with, adding that Bernstein suggested they meet up that night. His previous testimony ended with the two sitting on a bench at Borrego Park, walking back to Woodward’s car.

Woodward, in his testimony on Thursday, June 20, said he grabbed a bag of snacks he had taken from home along with a sleeping bag he kept in his car with marijuana paraphernalia in it and walked with Bernstein back into the park.

The two spoke and joked about their high school experiences, Woodward said, and commiserated with each other about their challenges at college. Woodward described rolling a joint and taking a couple of puffs of marijuana. Asked what effect it had on him that night, Woodward recalled that it “mostly felt like I was listening to a bunch of music.”

As a relaxed feeling came over him, Woodward testified that he closed his eyes, “tuned out” and began to nod off. Woodward said he felt Bernstein move close to him, but thought Bernstein was getting something out of the bag.

Woodward said he felt “something somewhat close” to his leg, which led him to worry that he had urinated on himself. When he opened his eyes, Woodward testified, his pants were unbuckled and Bernstein had one hand on his crotch and the other holding a cell phone.

“When I looked at him and I saw him and I saw the light of the phone and I realized what he had in his hand, I just — I went and I just — I just came undone,” Woodward said. “I went in a state of terror. I remember just asking, ‘What are you doing, what are you doing?’ I just remember asking again and again, ‘What are you doing?’ “

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