Alleged killer charged with murder of Blaze Bernstein 6 years ago seen in court as hate crime trial begins

The California man charged with killing his former high school classmate in an alleged homophobic and antisemitic hate crime was in court Tuesday as his trial begins six years after he was arrested.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward was seen in court sporting long hair, a gnarly beard, and shackles in one of his first appearances since he allegedly stabbed 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein to death on Jan. 3, 2018.

Woodward, then 20, is accused of meeting up with Bernstein, who was home from college for winter break, and driving him to the woods of Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch where he stabbed the University of Pennsylvania student nearly 20 times.

Bernstein, who was gay and Jewish, was reported missing by his parents, and his body was found a week later in a shallow grave in the park.

The Ivy League student messaged with Woodward over Snapchat before sneaking out of his parents’ home to meet up with him, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said in court papers, according to ABC 7.

Woodward, of Newport Beach, picked up Bernstein and drove to the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby craft store, where the latter reportedly tried to kiss Woodward in his car, a sheriff’s investigator testified.

Woodward reportedly pushed Bernstein away and called him a gay slur before Bernstein apologized profusely, the investigator said.

The pair still agreed to continue hanging out — in a non-romantic way — and decided to head to Borrego Park.

Inside the park, Woodward turned on the college student and stabbed him nearly 20 times in the face and neck with a pocket knife inscribed with his father’s name, prosecutors alleged.

The knife was later found with Bernstein’s blood on it in the home Woodward shared with his parents.

DNA evidence reportedly linked Woodward to the hateful slaying and a probe of his phone detailed a troubling history of violent anti-gay and antisemitic materials linked to the Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist hate group.

Investigators found emails the accused killer wrote and sent to himself in the form of an online diary detailing his alleged targeting of gay men, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In a July 2017 email entry, he wrote that he had downloaded Grindr, the LGBTQ dating app, in order to threaten and harass gay men, the paper reported.

“LMAO,” he wrote, according to testimony. “They think they are going to get hate crimed and it scares the s— out of them … Priceless.”

Woodward’s previous attorney claimed that his client was torn about his own sexuality and had Asperger’s syndrome.

Last month, jury selection in the case was started completely over after an outburst from Woodward in court. The trial is expected to run through the end of June.

He is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole and has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.