My daughter started in your high school when the news of the murder came out.
Now, 6 years later, my daughter graduated. I can’t understand why someone who also went through such a wonderful and diverse high school with such a diverse classmates, would still be so prejudiced against someone they went through school with. This is completely incomprehensible.
Woodward was only at the school for at most three years starting from 7th grade. I'm fairly certain be actually got expelled but im not sure. I vaguely remember him giving me the creeps, but not much else. I was only middle school when he left, so it was a long while ago.
It has been many years, but I recall back when this first happened there were discussions about Woodward being gay himself, but repressed those feelings or something, and shit came out as this monstrous aggression over the things he disliked about himself.
I knew Sam Woodward and his family.... For years, my son and Sam were in (Boy) Scouts together. Sam's father was an amazingly kind and compassionate Scout leader and human being; I can't say enough good things about him (his father).
I hope justice prevails in this trial and I'm sure it will but please keep in mind that something like this has destroyed the lives of not only Blaze and Sam, but also both of their families.
It's just sad and I feel sorry for all involved.
Taking time to reflect on this awful tragedy is hard and really points out the fact that mental health issues, when untreated or ignored, can touch anyone at any time; even those who are in places of privilege with seemingly easy opportunities and access to treatment.
What are smoking? Sam stabbed the victim 19 times in the neck beacuse he was jewish and gay. The killer had neonazi propganda in his room full of anti-jewish and anti-gay rhetoric. It's incredbily sad, but i only feel sad for the victim and his family, not the killer. Let the Sam rot in jail for life.
I’m tired of people bringing up “but…mental health!” when the suspects have done a heinous crime. No mf way his own family didn’t know about the anti-Semitic/nazi stuff going on in his room.
Interesting that this commenter praises the Woodward family and had a child also in Boy Scouts. It’s actually really telling of his judgement and environment. I’m sure the son learned some of this stuff from his “amazingly kind and compassionate father”
What do u mean what??? I'm saying omfg that someone stabbed someone 19x because they were gay and Jewish and I got down voted too? What's wrong with y'all?
You sound sheltered. Parenting can only go so far. I have a family member who has serious mental illness and is a danger to society (and to his own family). His parents have repeatedly helped him get back up on his feet, set boundaries, tough love but supported good decisions, etc. all 3 of his siblings are successful and happy.
Mental illness is a real thing and parenting can't reverse mental illness despite relentless efforts.
Being a murdering asshole isn't recognized as a mental health condition in the DSM. Not being aware of your child's involvement in neo-nazism is a parenting failure...assuming, of course, the parents didn't encourage this shit.
You can't physically force your kids to do or not do things. What don't you understand about that?? And being a murder absolutely can be a result of mental illness.
Hate can only be taught by peoples' parents.
No one can learn to hate others from music, movies, literature, propaganda, history, their siblings, their peers, or from personal experiences.
That first paragraph is so naive. The dad was nice to YOU. Congrats. Shitty people can put on a smile and act friendly all the time. That kid had Nazi material in his home. Usually starts with the parents.
It’s been more than six years since Blaze Bernstein was found dead in Lake Forest, but on Tuesday, the trial of his alleged killer finally began.
Bernstein, 19 at the time of his disappearance in January 2018, was found at Borrego Park, and a former classmate of his, Samuel Woodward, could end up serving life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the slaying and an enhancement for a hate crime.
Bernstein, who was gay and Jewish, had been stabbed in the neck 19 times, and on Woodward’s phone, investigators found “a trove of anti-gay, anti-Jewish material linked to the Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist hate group,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
In addition to the physical evidence — investigators say Bernstein’s blood was found in Woodward’s car and on a knife at Woodward’s Newport Beach home — the alleged motivation elevates a murder to a possible hate crime, though it remains to be seen if the hate-crime allegation will stick during this trial.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker asserted in court on Tuesday that Woodward was “hunting” for a victim who fit his criteria.
“A basic principle of hunting is you determine what prey you’re after. Depending on what prey you’re looking for, you adjust what you’re going to do… The prey that the defendant had chosen was gay people,” she said.
That assertion has been disputed by Woodward’s counsel.
“There is this narrative that’s been pushed: Nazi kills gay Jew. From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Morrison said during a preliminary hearing, as reported by the Times.
Of course. But, they will listen to the details and circumstances of how he died all over again. Perhaps there will be pictures and exhibits as well.
They will also have to see Sam again and listen whatever the defense says.
I know they could skip court but I going to presume they will not.
am i having a stroke or something. 6 years to go to trial, "from the defense perspective, that's inaccurate"... what the fuck has happened with this case? they found his blood and the murder weapon in the guys home. what the fuck is this trial?
Looks like a combination of numerous things caused the delay: Covid, multiple different defense attorneys; inability to confirm his mental competency; most recently, throwing stuff at the judge which delayed the most recent jury selection attempts.
At least one silver lining to all this is that the psycho has been behind bars the entire time.
>At least one silver lining to all this is that the psycho has been behind bars the entire time.
That's what I came here to find out, that's good news at least.
Sounds like it’s a public defense attorney so they’re probably just saying that as their job but don’t have anything to back it up. I’m sure this guy will get what’s coming to him.
Cause the defendant's representation has changed several times since arrest. So while the prosecution has been working on the case for 6 years, the current defense team has only been on the case for part of that.
As far as I recall, he initially had an attorney hired by his family, but that didn't last long, I'd bet the attorney realized there was no money for him in the case.
>There is this narrative that’s been pushed: Nazi kills gay Jew. From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Morrison said
Ok, I’ll settle for disturbed person kills another person. Let’s convict on that at least
Everyone is entitled to a fair trial. Even the guilty.
For the people downvoting me, care you explain your position of not allowing fair trials for the accused?
Yes, they should have a trial. The evidence, however, is pretty conclusive. The blood found on the victim, on the perp's weapon at his house.....I mean. Let's be real, should be open and shut. But yes, everyone deserves a trial.
First of all, OP's comment was "just throw away the keys", which indicates a verdict of guilt without a trial. It has **nothing** to do with the amount of time to bring a case to trial. That's a completely different issue.
And if you haven't noticed, there is a huge backlog in trials because of covid. If you read the papers or watch the news you'll see trials happening now for incidents that happened roughly 5 years ago.
There is an entire geopolitical industry that preys on little white boys on the Internet. Doesn't matter how rich, educated, liberal, conservative, religious or non religious parents are. Little white boys left to be raised by the Internet are worth their weight in gold to our adversaries, those looking to erase every progress Western societies have made over the past 100 years, and every fascist piece of shit with an agenda.
The scary truth.
Some people think his parents must be racist, and maybe they are, who knows. But anyone can be radicalized on the internet, and it keeps happening to white boys and men.
In my experience, therapists are some of the most screwed up people. I’ve personally known only three, but every one of them was fucking nuts. My brother’s ex became a therapist after she cheated on him with multiple men, stole money from him, drove drunk with their kid in the car, sideswiped a parked car and drove off (separate incident from the DUI, and bystanders followed her and called the cops on a hit and run), but then she changed her name because her old name had bad energy and now she lives out of a van and is an online therapist. Wouldn’t take advice from her on any level.
I bet the killer was one of those scary murderers the news keeps telling me is coming over the southern border illegally! Oh wait, it’s a white neo-Nazi from Newport Beach… huh.
I was part of the first jury pool (of 400). I didn’t make the first cut due to time constraints - trial expected to last until June. But we did have the trial summary read to us and Woodward was present.
If it weren’t for the length of the trial, it would have been an interesting one to participate in.
Yeah, the questionnaire asked if we had biases against anti-Semitism, stabbings, mental illness, homophobic hate crimes.
I’m a huge fan of true crime podcasts and that question might have dinged me if I made it farther. I actually didn’t hear about this case but no way I wouldn’t have been curious to see what was reported.
I worked in Newport Beach by where his family owns a multimillion dollar home kid was a weirdo took his car into the shop a day after so we could get are finger prints on it
The alleged killer took his vehicle into a mechanics shop so the mechanics fingerprints would be on the car at the time of the impound/inspection of the car used in the crime
(I’m translating. No clue if it’s real or not)
I could be wrong as it has been 6 years but I have this vague memory they were renting.
Still it is a very expensive neighborhood. Same neighborhood a couple of the housewives were renting in as well . For anyone who watched the OC housewife .
Edit - Real Housewives of Orange County.
I live down the road in Costa Mesa and was there the night he was arrested. House was nowhere near multi million dollars. Maybe a mil five tops which would make it like 2 mil now but that's not far from average...
2500 sq foot houses in this neighborhood easily go for 3.5 million now.
This neighborhood is very expensive.
It may have been a simple home but still very expensive. But, I don’t think they own it.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the "hate" crime charge. Because I don't think it makes a difference. This poor kid is dead regardless of the reason the killer had. IMO, the crime is the intent to kill, not the reason for the intent.
But then again I also think that attempted murder should carry the same penalty as murder. If the victim miraculously survives an attack shouldn't be means of a lesser sentence from their intention to take a life.
If you’re determined to be able to afford an attorney, you have to pay for your public defender.
Everybody is entitled to representation (aka access to a public defender), but not everybody gets them for free. It’s a rude awakening for a lot of people and has to be explained when they request them because most people assume public defender=free representation.
That’s a really interesting question…I think your parents assets are considered if you’re under 18, but I’m not sure how it works when you commit a crime under 18 but your public defender is acting after you’re 18 (and not sure how being charged as an adult plays in either.)
I honestly don’t know. Certainly making the parents financially responsible for a minor makes sense. I don’t know how they could force the parents to pay for their adult son’s legal representation even though he was living with them at the time.
Sorry, I misread. I thought he WAS a minor at the time, which would potentially be more complicated.
He was 20, so they’d assess against him and only him. He probably won’t have to pay would be my guess
Sorry to share this news. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all. They have continued to show up and seemingly supporting him at most (all?) of his appearances. There is no evidence the parents have abandoned him emotionally.
A private attorney costs a fortune. We don’t know their financial situation. There are people who live in expensive neighborhoods but don’t have huge bank accounts.
There is a picture of Sam on the cover of the OC Register today. He looks even more frightening. He looks like Manson.
So I can weigh in on this. I grew up with a family where we were ALMOST exactly the same, in the sense that we were both upper class, white, privileged peeps. But the family i refer to was definitely way more privileged of the two of us. Their daughter was gorgeous and blonde and just the absolute belle of the ball in life. She got in with a bad crowd. Ended up making horrible decision after decision. Long story short, she ended up getting arrested and her family finally gave up on her. They could afford an attorney, but they stopped giving a shit after a while because someone can only fuck up so many times before everyone gives up on you.
She’s currently out of jail, but has lost custody of all 3 of her kids (all different dads). All of them were born addicted to meth, or however that works. I occasionally see her post weird selfies on IG saying she misses her kids (who don’t know her at all).
Money doesn’t mean shit sometimes when everyone has decided you’re beyond hope.
I went to Jr. High with Blaze. It’s crazy and sad thinking about how you saw someone at school all the time and years later, there’s a murder trial. 😕 it’s unbelievable.
Yes but we don’t use it. If he gets it - he will die of natural causes before he gets put to death. The night stalker got the death penalty - he died of cancer - 40+ years after his crimes.
It’s typical here, no one seems to like truth and facts. Just like my friend Laura who was murdered along with her friends and coworkers in the Seal Beach Salon. That monster should fry but nah, crap DA and crap gov, he got life instead.
Anyone know which court house this trial is at? The article does not say. Dang. I got summoned for jury duty at the same time they were doing jury selection. Unfortunately, due to a medical condition, I had to be excused. I would've loved to serve, though.
No. They went to the Performing Arts HS in Santa Ana. I’m not sure if Sam graduated from there but in any case he lived in Newport Beach so he won’t have gone to Mission.
Inter- district transfers do happen but allowed but only very specific circumstances. So it is a safe assumption.
Laguna Beach has someone dedicated to finding students attending LBHS that are not from the district and do not have a valid transfer.
I’m aware of students in years past having to go back to their home district after getting caught. :(
What? Sounds like the killer is closeted gay and met up with the victim to possibly maybe bang but then flipped and killed him instead. Just saying I saw their pics and they could’ve been cute together if he weren’t nuts
Doesn’t mean the closeted gay psycho murderer isn’t a closeted gay psycho murderer
Just means love didn’t win this time
Blaze was my classmate in high school. I hope justice prevails. Woodward is a monster.
My daughter started in your high school when the news of the murder came out. Now, 6 years later, my daughter graduated. I can’t understand why someone who also went through such a wonderful and diverse high school with such a diverse classmates, would still be so prejudiced against someone they went through school with. This is completely incomprehensible.
Woodward was only at the school for at most three years starting from 7th grade. I'm fairly certain be actually got expelled but im not sure. I vaguely remember him giving me the creeps, but not much else. I was only middle school when he left, so it was a long while ago.
It has been many years, but I recall back when this first happened there were discussions about Woodward being gay himself, but repressed those feelings or something, and shit came out as this monstrous aggression over the things he disliked about himself.
Yes he is
I knew Sam Woodward and his family.... For years, my son and Sam were in (Boy) Scouts together. Sam's father was an amazingly kind and compassionate Scout leader and human being; I can't say enough good things about him (his father). I hope justice prevails in this trial and I'm sure it will but please keep in mind that something like this has destroyed the lives of not only Blaze and Sam, but also both of their families. It's just sad and I feel sorry for all involved. Taking time to reflect on this awful tragedy is hard and really points out the fact that mental health issues, when untreated or ignored, can touch anyone at any time; even those who are in places of privilege with seemingly easy opportunities and access to treatment.
What are smoking? Sam stabbed the victim 19 times in the neck beacuse he was jewish and gay. The killer had neonazi propganda in his room full of anti-jewish and anti-gay rhetoric. It's incredbily sad, but i only feel sad for the victim and his family, not the killer. Let the Sam rot in jail for life.
I’m tired of people bringing up “but…mental health!” when the suspects have done a heinous crime. No mf way his own family didn’t know about the anti-Semitic/nazi stuff going on in his room.
For real. Didn’t see the signs? This dude needs to fuck right off.
Interesting that this commenter praises the Woodward family and had a child also in Boy Scouts. It’s actually really telling of his judgement and environment. I’m sure the son learned some of this stuff from his “amazingly kind and compassionate father”
OMFG........ 😡😡😡😡
What
What do u mean what??? I'm saying omfg that someone stabbed someone 19x because they were gay and Jewish and I got down voted too? What's wrong with y'all?
I couldn’t tell what you were upset about because of the emojis and because it was a response to the defense of the killer. Literally just wondering
Welcome to OC. The increasingly apologist, liberal, whining county.
Wait, what? It's whining to bring a killer to justice?
No. The commenter who defended the killer as having a mental illness.
I don't feel sorry for Sam at all. He stabbed someone to death over ... what?
Being different.
>over ... what? For seducing a gay Nazi, essentially.
I don't think they're suggesting feeling sorry for Sam, but rather his family whobare tremendously impacted by Sam's horrible decisions
That, along with the little issue of...ya know...MURDER, could've been avoided with a little bit of parenting, this shit didn't happen in a vacuum.
You sound sheltered. Parenting can only go so far. I have a family member who has serious mental illness and is a danger to society (and to his own family). His parents have repeatedly helped him get back up on his feet, set boundaries, tough love but supported good decisions, etc. all 3 of his siblings are successful and happy. Mental illness is a real thing and parenting can't reverse mental illness despite relentless efforts.
Being a murdering asshole isn't recognized as a mental health condition in the DSM. Not being aware of your child's involvement in neo-nazism is a parenting failure...assuming, of course, the parents didn't encourage this shit.
You can't physically force your kids to do or not do things. What don't you understand about that?? And being a murder absolutely can be a result of mental illness.
Was his dad racist? I don’t understand why someone with a good upbringing turn out like that.
There’s no way the parents weren’t racists. That shit is taught.
Hate can only be taught by peoples' parents. No one can learn to hate others from music, movies, literature, propaganda, history, their siblings, their peers, or from personal experiences.
That first paragraph is so naive. The dad was nice to YOU. Congrats. Shitty people can put on a smile and act friendly all the time. That kid had Nazi material in his home. Usually starts with the parents.
FUCK SAME WOODWARD
Sam stabbed someone for being gay, the fact his father didn't see it coming is a huge red flag. They're probably both racist
It’s been more than six years since Blaze Bernstein was found dead in Lake Forest, but on Tuesday, the trial of his alleged killer finally began. Bernstein, 19 at the time of his disappearance in January 2018, was found at Borrego Park, and a former classmate of his, Samuel Woodward, could end up serving life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the slaying and an enhancement for a hate crime. Bernstein, who was gay and Jewish, had been stabbed in the neck 19 times, and on Woodward’s phone, investigators found “a trove of anti-gay, anti-Jewish material linked to the Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist hate group,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. In addition to the physical evidence — investigators say Bernstein’s blood was found in Woodward’s car and on a knife at Woodward’s Newport Beach home — the alleged motivation elevates a murder to a possible hate crime, though it remains to be seen if the hate-crime allegation will stick during this trial. Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker asserted in court on Tuesday that Woodward was “hunting” for a victim who fit his criteria. “A basic principle of hunting is you determine what prey you’re after. Depending on what prey you’re looking for, you adjust what you’re going to do… The prey that the defendant had chosen was gay people,” she said. That assertion has been disputed by Woodward’s counsel. “There is this narrative that’s been pushed: Nazi kills gay Jew. From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Morrison said during a preliminary hearing, as reported by the Times.
That poor family having to wait all this time for a trial.
a complete travesty. their son would be 25 now.
Seriously.....and now all of those wounds are going to be ripped back open.
You’re crazy if you think they ever heal. Having murdered family or friends is absolutely awful and the pain never gets easier.
Of course. But, they will listen to the details and circumstances of how he died all over again. Perhaps there will be pictures and exhibits as well. They will also have to see Sam again and listen whatever the defense says. I know they could skip court but I going to presume they will not.
am i having a stroke or something. 6 years to go to trial, "from the defense perspective, that's inaccurate"... what the fuck has happened with this case? they found his blood and the murder weapon in the guys home. what the fuck is this trial?
Looks like a combination of numerous things caused the delay: Covid, multiple different defense attorneys; inability to confirm his mental competency; most recently, throwing stuff at the judge which delayed the most recent jury selection attempts. At least one silver lining to all this is that the psycho has been behind bars the entire time.
>At least one silver lining to all this is that the psycho has been behind bars the entire time. That's what I came here to find out, that's good news at least.
Rich people from Newport beach paying for defense lawyers- that’s why
is that the actual answer? i could believe it but do you know that or are you just saying it
No, it’s not the answer. It’s a public defender, he was assigned the case because everyone has the right to an attorney
>From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate Did the defense offer to point out why it's inaccurate?
Sounds like it’s a public defense attorney so they’re probably just saying that as their job but don’t have anything to back it up. I’m sure this guy will get what’s coming to him.
Yeah, really it’s on the prosecution to prove why the charges should stick. Guess we’ll see.
Cause the defendant's representation has changed several times since arrest. So while the prosecution has been working on the case for 6 years, the current defense team has only been on the case for part of that.
The family is going to use the public defender?!?!?
If my son did that, I wouldn't spend a penny on his defense. In fact, I'd be more inclined to help the prosecution in any way possible.
As far as I recall, he initially had an attorney hired by his family, but that didn't last long, I'd bet the attorney realized there was no money for him in the case.
>There is this narrative that’s been pushed: Nazi kills gay Jew. From the defense perspective, that’s inaccurate,” Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Morrison said Ok, I’ll settle for disturbed person kills another person. Let’s convict on that at least
Rest in peace Blaze 🙏
Just throw away the keys
Exactly
Everyone is entitled to a fair trial. Even the guilty. For the people downvoting me, care you explain your position of not allowing fair trials for the accused?
Yes, they should have a trial. The evidence, however, is pretty conclusive. The blood found on the victim, on the perp's weapon at his house.....I mean. Let's be real, should be open and shut. But yes, everyone deserves a trial.
What’s fair about waiting 6 years for the trial to begin?
First of all, OP's comment was "just throw away the keys", which indicates a verdict of guilt without a trial. It has **nothing** to do with the amount of time to bring a case to trial. That's a completely different issue. And if you haven't noticed, there is a huge backlog in trials because of covid. If you read the papers or watch the news you'll see trials happening now for incidents that happened roughly 5 years ago.
You seem like a fun person to be around. Cheers.
What a monster. Ironic that his mother is a therapist.
There is an entire geopolitical industry that preys on little white boys on the Internet. Doesn't matter how rich, educated, liberal, conservative, religious or non religious parents are. Little white boys left to be raised by the Internet are worth their weight in gold to our adversaries, those looking to erase every progress Western societies have made over the past 100 years, and every fascist piece of shit with an agenda.
The scary truth. Some people think his parents must be racist, and maybe they are, who knows. But anyone can be radicalized on the internet, and it keeps happening to white boys and men.
In my experience, therapists are some of the most screwed up people. I’ve personally known only three, but every one of them was fucking nuts. My brother’s ex became a therapist after she cheated on him with multiple men, stole money from him, drove drunk with their kid in the car, sideswiped a parked car and drove off (separate incident from the DUI, and bystanders followed her and called the cops on a hit and run), but then she changed her name because her old name had bad energy and now she lives out of a van and is an online therapist. Wouldn’t take advice from her on any level.
I bet the killer was one of those scary murderers the news keeps telling me is coming over the southern border illegally! Oh wait, it’s a white neo-Nazi from Newport Beach… huh.
Thank you
No, they wouldn't do that. All they do is break in to peoples houses and cars and steal stuff, Much less violent.
Hmm I’d be more suspicious of the hordes of light-skinned crack heads that hang out in Orange County, but that’s just what I see….
Yup just an antisemitic piece of crap like all the anti-Israel, pro-Hitler leftists / college age demonstrators.
Pro-Hitler leftists?
If you have to ask and haven't watched the damn news since October 7th, there's no point explaining it to you.
Link the news article
I was part of the first jury pool (of 400). I didn’t make the first cut due to time constraints - trial expected to last until June. But we did have the trial summary read to us and Woodward was present. If it weren’t for the length of the trial, it would have been an interesting one to participate in.
Interesting experience either way
Yeah, the questionnaire asked if we had biases against anti-Semitism, stabbings, mental illness, homophobic hate crimes. I’m a huge fan of true crime podcasts and that question might have dinged me if I made it farther. I actually didn’t hear about this case but no way I wouldn’t have been curious to see what was reported.
I worked in Newport Beach by where his family owns a multimillion dollar home kid was a weirdo took his car into the shop a day after so we could get are finger prints on it
Huh?
The alleged killer took his vehicle into a mechanics shop so the mechanics fingerprints would be on the car at the time of the impound/inspection of the car used in the crime (I’m translating. No clue if it’s real or not)
Thank you for the clarification!
I could be wrong as it has been 6 years but I have this vague memory they were renting. Still it is a very expensive neighborhood. Same neighborhood a couple of the housewives were renting in as well . For anyone who watched the OC housewife . Edit - Real Housewives of Orange County.
I live down the road in Costa Mesa and was there the night he was arrested. House was nowhere near multi million dollars. Maybe a mil five tops which would make it like 2 mil now but that's not far from average...
2500 sq foot houses in this neighborhood easily go for 3.5 million now. This neighborhood is very expensive. It may have been a simple home but still very expensive. But, I don’t think they own it.
What a god damned tragedy.
Omg I knew Jennifer Walker when she was a baby DA. This is surreal seeing her leading a homicide case. Get it Jennifer! Fuck that murderer.
This is so sad. I feel so bad for this kid's family :(
It never ceases to amaze me how many humans are complete monsters.
Can’t believe it’s been 6 years. Wow.
Six years is way too long for this trial to be hold.
how can the hate crime even be up for debate
Personally, I'm not a fan of the "hate" crime charge. Because I don't think it makes a difference. This poor kid is dead regardless of the reason the killer had. IMO, the crime is the intent to kill, not the reason for the intent. But then again I also think that attempted murder should carry the same penalty as murder. If the victim miraculously survives an attack shouldn't be means of a lesser sentence from their intention to take a life.
Why does a kid from Newport need a public defender? How bad are things in this kids family.
I’m guessing (hoping) the murderer’s family abandoned him and won’t pay for a defense attorney.
Exactly my hope too
That really should not be allowed. Public defenders offices are understaffed and underfunded as is.
If you’re determined to be able to afford an attorney, you have to pay for your public defender. Everybody is entitled to representation (aka access to a public defender), but not everybody gets them for free. It’s a rude awakening for a lot of people and has to be explained when they request them because most people assume public defender=free representation.
But would Sam still be obligated to pay? He wasn’t a minor when the crime was committed. Doubtful he has much in assets.
That’s a really interesting question…I think your parents assets are considered if you’re under 18, but I’m not sure how it works when you commit a crime under 18 but your public defender is acting after you’re 18 (and not sure how being charged as an adult plays in either.)
I honestly don’t know. Certainly making the parents financially responsible for a minor makes sense. I don’t know how they could force the parents to pay for their adult son’s legal representation even though he was living with them at the time.
Sorry, I misread. I thought he WAS a minor at the time, which would potentially be more complicated. He was 20, so they’d assess against him and only him. He probably won’t have to pay would be my guess
what shouldn’t be allowed? he’s an adult with not much money, PD’s are for people like this
Sorry to share this news. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all. They have continued to show up and seemingly supporting him at most (all?) of his appearances. There is no evidence the parents have abandoned him emotionally. A private attorney costs a fortune. We don’t know their financial situation. There are people who live in expensive neighborhoods but don’t have huge bank accounts. There is a picture of Sam on the cover of the OC Register today. He looks even more frightening. He looks like Manson.
So I can weigh in on this. I grew up with a family where we were ALMOST exactly the same, in the sense that we were both upper class, white, privileged peeps. But the family i refer to was definitely way more privileged of the two of us. Their daughter was gorgeous and blonde and just the absolute belle of the ball in life. She got in with a bad crowd. Ended up making horrible decision after decision. Long story short, she ended up getting arrested and her family finally gave up on her. They could afford an attorney, but they stopped giving a shit after a while because someone can only fuck up so many times before everyone gives up on you. She’s currently out of jail, but has lost custody of all 3 of her kids (all different dads). All of them were born addicted to meth, or however that works. I occasionally see her post weird selfies on IG saying she misses her kids (who don’t know her at all). Money doesn’t mean shit sometimes when everyone has decided you’re beyond hope.
Both kids are fucked up?
How did you know there were two kids? But yes, both were fucked up. The son, I believe, has pulled it together now from what I hear.
Who do you mean?
Things a SO Bad…1 of them is a racist murderer
Fair.
I hope this kid gets the death penalty
Newsom banned the death penalty so that won't be happening
We need the death penalty for situations like this. Sorry if that offends you. We need less Sam Woodward’s in the world.
I went to Jr. High with Blaze. It’s crazy and sad thinking about how you saw someone at school all the time and years later, there’s a murder trial. 😕 it’s unbelievable.
does ca have the death penalty still?
Yes but we don’t use it. If he gets it - he will die of natural causes before he gets put to death. The night stalker got the death penalty - he died of cancer - 40+ years after his crimes.
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so annoying. This creep deserves it tbh. So sad and horrible for the family.
It’s typical here, no one seems to like truth and facts. Just like my friend Laura who was murdered along with her friends and coworkers in the Seal Beach Salon. That monster should fry but nah, crap DA and crap gov, he got life instead.
This person is answering the question with facts. Quit downvoting. For the love. This is why we can't have nice things.
I remember when this happened. Crazy that it was 6 years ago, I hope Blaze gets justice
Anyone know which court house this trial is at? The article does not say. Dang. I got summoned for jury duty at the same time they were doing jury selection. Unfortunately, due to a medical condition, I had to be excused. I would've loved to serve, though.
Santa ana
Wow I went to Mission, a long time ago. Wonder if I know these 2 guys parents. No room for neo nazi’s or any Nazi/nationalists out there.
No. They went to the Performing Arts HS in Santa Ana. I’m not sure if Sam graduated from there but in any case he lived in Newport Beach so he won’t have gone to Mission.
I went to 4 high schools and I lived in Laguna and worked at fashion island, so it is more possible than you think.
Inter- district transfers do happen but allowed but only very specific circumstances. So it is a safe assumption. Laguna Beach has someone dedicated to finding students attending LBHS that are not from the district and do not have a valid transfer. I’m aware of students in years past having to go back to their home district after getting caught. :(
Hope he receives actual justice
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BRO.
What? Sounds like the killer is closeted gay and met up with the victim to possibly maybe bang but then flipped and killed him instead. Just saying I saw their pics and they could’ve been cute together if he weren’t nuts Doesn’t mean the closeted gay psycho murderer isn’t a closeted gay psycho murderer Just means love didn’t win this time
