SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) — A 27-year-old man faces life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for the hate crime killing of a gay former classmate in Foothill Ranch six years ago.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward was convicted in July on January 3, 2018, of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein. He awaits sentencing on Friday.

The victim’s mother, Jeanne Pepper, read an emotional impact statement in court at Friday’s sentencing hearing:

“This calm and serious sounding young man lied to us, the emphatic parents of the young man he had less than 24 hours before stabbed 28 times with a 6 inch blade and buried in a park by our home, he misled us into believing that Blaze had wandered off into a dark and vast park by our home that leads into the wilderness behind our house.”

“When the search began the next day, huge police and resources came to our aid to search the forest, the park and the internet for clues. His killer also turned up that day in the park and then went home to clean his car of any evidence… I’m so scared to think of my child being injured, lost in the woods or being held by an extremist neo-Nazi group. Then we got the phone call on January 10, my dad’s birthday, they found my son’s body in the mud in the park,” he continued she.

“How could this happen? No mother should have to bury her child… my heart was so broken and yet unable to accept the reality that he was no longer part of our world. I was not told the details of how he was killed because I had trouble dealing with the reality of his death I will never forget hearing for the first time that Blaze had been stabbed 28 times while listening to the news while I was in the park where his body was found collapsed on the ground screaming, it was one of the many panic attacks I would have that first year.”

“It’s the single worst, most painful thing that’s ever happened to me, to know that he died in such a horrible, horrible way, stabbed to death by someone claiming to be a high school classmate,” she said.

“When I think about his last moments it scares me so much I used to have panic attacks just thinking about it. Sleepless nights.”

“I never thought I’d smile again or be happy again, but I stand here today relieved and happy that this sociopath will never leave Orange County again or murder someone else’s child… while Sam rots in prison we will being here on the outside celebrating Blaze’s life, and continuing to do good with others who work every day to make this world more caring, kind and safe for the Jewish and LGBT communities,” Pepper said.

The hate crime enhancement alleged that Woodward killed Bernstein because of the victim’s sexual orientation, not because he was Jewish, although jurors were also given evidence of the defendant’s connection to a neo-Nazi group known as the Atomwaffen Division to consider a pattern of bigotry.

Woodward and Bernstein attended the Orange County School of the Arts together for four years. Bernstein graduated after six years at the school and went on to become a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Woodward, meanwhile, attended Corona Del Mar High School where he graduated and went on to Cal State Channel Islands before dropping out in his second semester.

Woodward spent five days testifying during the trial, often taking up to 30 seconds to answer yes or no questions. Woodward’s attorney, Ken Morrison of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, presented evidence of his client’s problems with autism that left him so hungry for companionship that he was easily drawn in by a neo-Nazi group.

Woodward said he reached out to Bernstein hours after a long text exchange with his older brother’s best friend, Dylan Gronendyke, on New Year’s Day 2018. When Woodward complained that he couldn’t establish meaningful relationships and would even leave the house and go to a parking lot alone just to give his parents the impression that he was going out with friends, Gronendyke encouraged him to return to college and not to give up trying to make friends.

Nearly a day passed before Bernstein responded to Woodward, and the two agreed to meet on the night of January 2, 2018. Woodward stuffed snacks and drinks and marijuana into a sleeping bag and picked up Bernstein, who directed the two to Borrego Park, where the victim’s mother said he had many lifelong memories, such as playing football as a youngster.

Woodward testified that he took two hits from an intoxicating strain of marijuana and felt himself nodding off until he felt a strange sensation in his legs and immediately thought he had become too relaxed and peed on himself, as he had done before.

When he snapped, Woodward testified, he realized his pants were undone and the victim had his hand on his groin. Bernstein also appeared to be photographing or videotaping the meeting, he testified.

This sparked panic in Woodward, who said he was in “mortal terror” that his family, who opposed homosexuality on religious grounds, would find out. He said he struggled to get the phone off Bernstein, who, the defendant claimed, said words that he was going to “out” Woodward, who had a reputation at the high school for homophobia.

When he couldn’t get the phone, Woodward said he snapped and stabbed Bernstein repeatedly, then smashed the phone.

Woodward said he dug a shallow grave with his hands and left the body in the park.

When Bernstein failed to show up for a dental appointment, which was unusual, and could not be contacted, his worried parents began searching for clues and contacted authorities. The victim’s body was found on Jan. 9, 2018, in an area of ​​the park that had been searched before, but recent rain made it easier to see him, said Senior Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Walker.

Morrison told jurors that evidence of his client’s autism was presented not as an attempt to excuse the crime, but to help jurors understand his state of mind — and to get them to dismiss the hate crime charges and accept a lesser degree of murder.

“Samuel Lincoln Woodward should be held accountable for what he did,” Morrison said during his closing argument. “He shouldn’t be held accountable for what he didn’t do. This case was overcharged.”

Morrison characterized his client as someone who struggled through life, who didn’t realize he had autism until he was 18 when it was too late for the usually prescribed interventions. The disorder made it difficult for him to communicate and led to social awkwardness and loneliness, and the late diagnosis made him particularly vulnerable to being courted by an fringe, extremist group such as Atomwaffen Division, the defense lawyer argued.

Woodward became disillusioned with the group after a two-month excursion in the summer of 2017 to Texas with the man who lured him into the group, when he ran out of money for food and a motel, Morrison said.

Morrison claimed that although Woodward and Bernstein did not interact much when they were classmates, there were projects they worked on together and that Woodward considered him a “chill guy”. Morrison said the defendant was surprised to learn Bernstein was gay when they reconnected. on a dating app in June 2017, and Woodward grew to admire how the victim was comfortable with her sexual orientation while the defendant struggled with his own.

Walker argued to jurors that the evidence pointed to Woodward planning to attack Bernstein in a “ceremonial” killing to gain prestige for the neo-Nazi group. She said he wore a shirt with a skull image to “instill fear” into the victim and that it had Bernstein’s blood spattered on it after the attack.

As Bernstein’s panicked parents combed their missing son’s social media for clues, they called Woodward, who lied to them about what happened to their son, according to prosecutors. Walker said Woodward also began searching for DNA information and even got a haircut to change his appearance while the search for Bernstein was making headlines.

She brushed off Morrison’s argument that Bernstein had failed Woodward’s requests to keep quiet about the two matching on a dating app.

Walker said Bernstein was legitimately “shocked” to see Woodward seeking men on the dating app and sent a link to her public profile to some art school classmates.

Walker said Bernstein kept his promise not to share the details of his conversations with others.

City News Service Inc. contributed to this report.