Bernstein, a gay Jewish college sophomore, was home for winter break visiting family in Southern California when he disappeared. Authorities searched the area for him and found his body a week later in a shallow grave in a nearby park.

During the months-long trial, the question was not whether Woodward killed Bernstein, but why and under what circumstances it happened.

Woodward and Bernstein previously attended the same Orange County high school and had connected on a dating app in the months before the attack, according to court testimony. Woodward said he picked up Bernstein and went to a nearby park. He repeatedly stabbed Bernstein after trying to grab a cellphone that he said had been used to photograph him.

Prosecutors said Woodward joined a violent, homophobic and anti-Semitic group called the Atomwaffen Division and repeatedly targeted gay men online by contacting them, then abruptly cutting off contact and keeping a hate-filled, profanity-laced diary of his actions. They said Woodward had shown an interest in violent acts in the weeks before the murder and contacted Bernstein online.

Ken Morrison, Woodward's attorney, told jurors his client did not plan to kill anyone and did not hate Bernstein. He said Woodward had struggled with challenges in his personal relationships due to a long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder and was confused about his sexuality after growing up in a politically conservative and devoutly Catholic family in which his father openly criticized homosexuality.

It took years for the case to go to trial after doubts arose about Woodward's mental state and defense attorneys changed several times. At the end of 2022, Woodward was declared competent to stand trial.

Bernstein disappeared in January 2018 after walking with Woodward at night to a park in Lake Forest, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles. After Bernstein missed a dentist appointment the next day, his parents found his glasses, wallet and credit cards in his bedroom and tried to reach him, but he did not respond to texts or calls.

Authorities launched an extensive search and said Bernstein's family searched his social media and found he had been communicating with Woodward through Snapchat. Authorities said Woodward told the family Bernstein had left that evening to meet a friend at the park and had not returned.

Days later, Bernstein's body was found in the shallow grave. He had been stabbed multiple times in the face and neck.

Authorities said they searched Woodward's family home in Newport Beach and found a folding knife with a bloody blade in his room. They also found a black nuclear weapon mask with traces of blood and a variety of homophobic, anti-Semitic and hateful material, prosecutors said.

Ding reported from Los Angeles.