Sentencing of Samuel Woodward, who killed classmate Blaze Bernstein in Southern California, delayed until November

LOS ANGELES — The sentencing of Samuel Woodward, convicted of killing former classmate Blaze Bernstein and burying his body at the edge of a Lake Forest park, was rescheduled on Tuesday for mid-November — with an Orange County Superior Court judge warning attorneys she would not agree to any further delays.

Woodward, following a nearly three-month trial, was convicted in July of first-degree murder for the January 2018 slaying of 19-year-old Bernstein, his former Orange County School of the Arts classmate. Because jurors determined the killing was a hate crime, Woodward faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Woodward was initially scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday.

But Woodward’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison, successfully asked to delay sentencing, citing his backlog of work, among other issues. Judge Kimberly Menninger agreed, but warned attorneys on both sides they need to be ready to proceed with the sentencing on Nov. 15.

Woodward admitted to stabbing Bernstein to death during a late night meeting at Borrego Park.

The prosecution argued the murder was driven by hate and carried out in furtherance of the ideals of a neo-Nazi group Woodward had ties to. Berstein was Jewish and gay. The defense countered that the killing was unplanned and occurred in the heat of passion, making it a lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter.

The six-day search for a missing Bernstein and the subsequent arrest of Woodward drew national attention and led to the most closely watched criminal trial in recent Orange County history.

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