SANTA ANA, Calif. – A California man was found guilty Wednesday of aggravated hate crime murder in the 2018 stabbing death of a gay student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Samuel Woodward, 26, was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated murder in the killing of Blaze Bernstein, a gay Jewish college sophomore who was home visiting his family in Southern California for winter break 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.

In her closing argument, prosecutor Jennifer Walker emphasized Woodward's membership in a violent, homophobic and anti-Semitic group called the Atomwaffen Division.

“This is a person focused on hate,” Walker said. “He's not following nuclear weapons, he's not being guided by them, he's not influencing them, he's not being victimized by them – he's looking for them.”

Due to the aggravated hate crime, Woodward could face a life sentence without parole.

His lawyer, Ken Morrison, tried to prove in court that his client had neither intended to kill Bernstein nor harbored hatred toward anyone, in order to obtain a conviction on a less serious charge, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Morrison, who plans to appeal after the verdict, said the judge made some crucial decisions that “deprived the jury of the opportunity to consider evidence critical to a fair trial.”

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 the Atomwaffen Division and repeatedly targeted gay men online, contacting them and then abruptly cutting off contact while 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 had 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.