Samuel Woodward, who is now 27, is scheduled to be sentenced in a Southern California courtroom for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago. There is no question about the sentence Woodward will receive because the jury’s verdict carries a life sentence without parole, said Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
Woodward was convicted this year of first-degree murder with an enhancement for a hate crime for killing Bernstein, a gay, Jewish college sophomore.
Bernstein, who was 19, disappeared in January 2018 after he went out at night with Woodward to a park in Lake Forest, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) 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 didn’t respond.
Does it matter?
No. Just as Joe McCarthy wasn’t excused from his purges of gay people from government just because he happened to be homosexual as well doesn’t mean a member of atomwaffen gets any mercy for being gay
Ik seriously. Gay, not gay, closeted, not closeted. Guess what? Still a fucking piece of shit murderer.
I’ll never understand people’s strange obsession over bucketing other people’s sexuality. People MUST identify as something.
I get that identifying your sexuality can help, but it’s just morphed into this bizarre obsession with some people.
Recently made a friend at work, and told them I went on a date with a guy (I’m a dude.) Immediately conversation went to “Oh so you’re Gay? That’s cool” and I just said, “well I guess if I have to identify I would be bisexual, but I don’t really put a label on myself”. Of course the questions flood in:
“Oh ok so like what percentage gay are you? Have you had a threesome before?” And suddenly in 1 hour the whole office knows I’m bi. I got women coming up to me, calling me “brave” for coming out in the office (even though it wasn’t my intention). I have people who have literally introduced me to other people “Hey this is ____. He’s bisexual”. Like the 2nd sentence out of their mouths is my sexuality. Now my entire being has been reduced to my sexuality and nothing else. I’ll forever be known as the “bi” dude in the office from now on.
I swear I think there’s going to be a 5 hour HR meeting on this next week, in the weird, corporate “we support you” kind of way.
Most people truly do mean the best, so I can’t be mad at anyone. It’s just so……weird? It’s just the biggest fucking deal to some people
I think it matters in the sense that these sorts of situations are created by toxic environments such as the one this killer was raised in, environments that are pervasive across much of the country.
It’s why they fight so hard to erase queer people from libraries and schools and the public in general, because the only way that environment can survive is if you can indoctrinate and shelter children for their developing years.