Bernstein was Jewish, gay, quick-witted and smart, and with a large circle of friends. The sentencing hearing was held without Woodward appearing in court.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward was found guilty in July for the death of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, whose body was found days after he went missing, stabbed over 28 times and buried in a shallow grave at a Lake Forest Park.

This was a hate crime," Blaze Bernstein’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, told the court. “Samuel Woodward ended my son’s life because my son was Jewish and gay.”

Samuel Woodward, a California man found guilty of murdering his former classmate in 2018 in a hate crime, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday.

Samuel Woodward, 27, was convicted of murder as a hate crime for the killing of Blaze Bernstein, a gay, Jewish college sophomore