Blaze Bernstein murder: Jury selection to start over after courtroom outburst by defendant

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Jury selection will start over Wednesday in the trial of a man charged with the allegedly hate-motivated killing of a gay former high school classmate, following an outburst in an Orange County courtroom by the defendant last week.

In the midst of jury selection last Thursday, Samuel Lincoln Woodward, who is accused of the Jan. 3, 2018, killing of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, had an outburst in court, after which his attorney moved for the entire jury pool to be dismissed.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger granted the request, and warned Woodward that she will consider shackling him or removing him from the courtroom if there are further outbursts.

The hearing Tuesday addressed Woodward's outburst last week. Woodward was brought into the courtroom shackled, with his long hair covering most of his face.

Menninger warned him of the consequences of having another outburst in court.

The judge said Woodward would not be shackled in his trial, but warned him that if he had another verbal or physical outburst she could go as far as removing him from his trial.

Woodward said he understood.

The judge told Woodward she didn't harbor any ill will toward him and wanted to move forward with mutual respect.

Due to Woodward's outburst in front of potential jurors, the judge declared a mistrial in terms of the jury pool. All potential jurors going through jury selection were dismissed.

The judge said he's been pleasant and had done well leading up to last Thursday.

Woodward's defense attorney Ken Morrison told Menninger that Woodward was not feeling well.

Menninger said she thought Woodward was having a medical emergency when he got up.

Starting Wednesday morning, jury selection in the case will have to start all over again. Up to 400 people could be called up as part of that new jury pool.

It's still not known when the trial would start.

Woodward is charged with murder with sentencing enhancements for a hate crime and the personal use of a deadly weapon. He is facing up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted.

The body of Bernstein, a University of Pennsylvania pre-med student, was found in a shallow grave in a Lake Forest park following a highly publicized search. He had been stabbed about 20 times.

City News Service contributed to this report.