Blaze Bernstein Murder Suspect Testifies About Neo-Nazi Ties

FOOTHILL RANCH, CA — The man charged with the hate-crime fatal stabbing of a former classmate at the Orange County School of the Arts six years ago in Foothill Ranch took the stand Thursday in his defense.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, who is charged with the Jan. 3, 2018, killing of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, testified about his jailhouse visits with psychiatric defense expert, Dr. Martha Rogers, as well as his upbringing and a trip he made to Texas, where he was part of a neo-Nazi group.

Woodward is accused of killing Bernstein because he was gay. Woodward has been characterized as being confused about his sexuality and grew up in a family in which the parents frowned on homosexuality for religious reasons.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said in her opening statement of the trial that Woodward reveled in catfishing gay men online and then rejecting or threatening them before he killed his high school classmate Bernstein when they met up one night after reconnecting online.

Woodward's defense attorney, Ken Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, is making the case his client had trouble making friends and was lured into the neo-Nazi group, which targets people like him.

Morrison on Thursday asked Woodward about when he was finally diagnosed as a teen with having autism spectrum disorder.

Morrison had to ask his client a few times to get his long hair out of his eyes as he stared down and at times trailed off into mumbling. Wearing a black jacket, white shirt and khaki pants, Woodward, at times, also spoke clearly about his life, but often admitted he could not recall many events or past statements to Rogers.

When he was asked how he felt after his parents took him to a clinic where he was diagnosed with autism, he said, "No, I don't remember that day."

When showed a copy of one of Rogers' reports about his discussions about it, Woodward said, it jogged his memory a bit.

"At some point after hearing about it, I remember feeling everything from uncertain, some displeasure and sometimes I didn't think about it," he testified.

When asked if it has changed his way of viewing his life so far, he said, "No, I don't think about it that much."

But Woodward said he was aware as a child of, "Just how I come across... I thought I came across as different... I guess I sounded different, things like that."

He acknowledged having "issues, sometimes just communicating, where my voice sounded funny or came across as strange," he testified.

Morrison also asked Woodward about the combative relationship he had with his brother, Clay, who was 2 years older. He said he loves his brother and that the two have a much better relationship now.

But when they were younger the defendant said he felt "picked on."

"I just thought it was ridiculous," he said of their fights. "I always thought if I got in a fight with my brother I felt like I wasn't looking for a fight... I can't remember there ever was an instance when I believe I was in any way shape or form the aggressor."

Woodward's father, Blake, testified last week that Clay wound sometimes call his brother "gay," and "we admonished him for it."

That was usually prompted by something Woodward did that his brother "would consider effeminate," Blake Woodward testified.

The fistfights between the brothers likely stopped when Sam Woodward was about 16 or 17, his father testified. Clay Woodward was bigger and stronger and into weightlifting so he would often "get the better of" Sam, his father said.

The defendant "would be angry" when his father intervened "because he wanted to continue to fight and get the better of Clay," Blake Woodward testified.

In one instance, Blake Woodward said he hit his son when the defendant hit him as he tried to break up one of the battles. His father also said he got his son in a "choke hold," he said.

"Sam could not fight well," his father said. "I tried to teach him."

Blake Woodward also testified that he would discipline his son, Sam, with spankings until he was about 8 or 9.

Sam Woodward testified that he had a lisp as a child, which would provoke teasing from his brother.

Sam Woodward quit college at Cal State Channel Islands and decided in July 2017 to go to Texas with Tristan "Kruuz" Evans, who wooed the defendant into the neo-Nazi Attomwaffen Division group. It was the first time living out of state for Woodward, who grew up in Newport Beach, he said.

"I drove entirely in my car" to Texas, he said.

"I mostly spent time trying to find several jobs or job opportunities," he testified.

He sought jobs as a handyman and other trades such as roofing, plumbing or electrical work, he testified. But he only landed a "couple" of jobs and soon ran out of money and could no longer afford the motel he was staying in, he said.

He did not recall Evans' name, only knowing him by the nickname, he said.

"I mostly remember him telling me there were a ton of job opportunities" in Texas, he said. "Thought it would be a good idea to take him up on that offer."

When asked if he found himself homeless, he said, "something like that... I mostly remember sleeping in my car a lot."

By September he felt "it was time to basically head back home."

He wanted to "recuperate" and begin "making back any money I lost" on the excursion to Texas, he said. He also intended to go back to college, he added.

Woodward will resume testifying Monday.