OC jury convicts man of murder with hate crime enhancement in death of Blaze Bernstein

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A 26-year-old man was convicted of murder with a hate crime enhancement Wednesday for the stabbing death of a gay former classmate in Orange County.

Jurors, who began deliberating Tuesday afternoon, convicted Samuel Lincoln Woodward for the January 2018 killing of Blaze Bernstein, 19. Woodward's attorneys conceded during the trial that he killed Bernstein, but denied it was a hate crime or a premeditated act, saying at worst he should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors alleged Woodward killed his former Orange County School of the Arts classmate because Bernstein was gay.

The jury, however, found Woodward guilty of first-degree murder, and also found true allegations that the killing was a hate crime, and that he personally used a deadly weapon - a knife.

There were brief cheers in the courtroom as the verdict was read. Woodward sat still in silence as he learned the jury convicted him.

Bernstein's mother Jeanne Pepper spoke to the media following the conviction and said the verdict "brings a measure of closure" six-and-a-half years after the teen's murder, but that it "cannot erase the pain of losing our son and the agony of waiting all of these years without resolution."

Bernstein, a gay, Jewish student at the University of Pennsylvania, went missing while visiting family during winter break. His body was later found in a shallow grave in a Lake Forest park where he had gone with Woodward.

Woodward testified during the trial that on the night of the murder, he went into a state of terror after thinking Bernstein may have been recording him while touching him sexually at the park, then pulled out a knife. Bernstein was stabbed 28 times, prosecutors said.

Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker, who prosecuted the case, told jurors during closing arguments that Woodward's hatred of gay people and his affiliation with Atomwaffen Division - a far-right, neo-Nazi group - led him to plan the murder.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 25. Woodward faces life without the possibility of parole.

ABC News and City News Service contributed to this report.