SANTA ANA, California — The fate of Samuel Woodward, the self-admitted killer of former classmate Blaze Bernstein, is now in the hands of an Orange County jury that must decide whether it was a hate-fueled slaying driven by the ideals of a Neo-Nazi group or a deadly confrontation sparked in the heat of passion.

Deliberations began Tuesday afternoon in the nearly three-month murder trial of Woodward, who, during his testimony, admitted to stabbing Bernstein to death during a late-night meetup in January 2018 and then burying his body in a makeshift grave amid vegetation at the edge a Lake Forest park.

Over three days of closing arguments in a Santa Ana courtroom, the prosecution asked an Orange County Superior Court jury to find Woodward, now 26, guilty of a first-degree hate-crime murder, while the defense argued the killing should be considered a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter not tied to a hate crime.

A hate crime finding would greatly lengthen his time behind bars.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors that Woodward — who had ties to Atomwaffen Division, a Neo-Nazi extremist group — killed Bernstein because Bernstein was gay.

“This is what (Blaze was) up against,” Walker said as she displayed a photo of Woodward wearing a skull mask covering most of his face while brandishing his father’s revolver. “This is a person focused on hate.”

Noting that such a skull mask — with Bernstein’s blood on it — was found by police in Woodward’s rental car, the prosecutor described the slaying as a “ceremonial killing” meant to get Woodward “prestige and recognition” by members of Atomwaffen.

Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison argued that Woodward — who is on the autism spectrum — was wrestling with his own sexuality after growing up in a “repressive” home, had distanced himself from Atomwaffen by the time of the killing and had been betrayed by Bernstein telling others about at-times flirtatious online conversations he had with Woodward.

“You heard me tell you right out of the gate my client was guilty — guilty of a serious, violent homicide,” Morrison told jurors. “But there are different types of homicides. …You have to get into Samuel Woodward’s mind at the time he killed Blaze Bernstein.”

Woodward and Bernstein were acquaintances when both attended the Orange County School of the Arts, according to testimony. Woodward — who had a reputation at the school for his conservative and sometimes seemingly homophobic views — later dropped out of college to travel to Texas to meet members of Atomwaffen Division before moving back in with his parents in Newport Beach.

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