Samuel Woodward brushes away the hair from his face after his attorney Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison asked him to do so during his testimony in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, June 13, 2024 in Santa Ana. Woodward is accused of stabbing his former Orange County School of the Arts classmate Blaze Bernstein to death more than six years ago and burying his body near a Foothill Ranch park.
Samuel Woodward brushes away the hair from his face after his attorney Assistant Public Defender Ken Morrison asked him to do so during his testimony in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, June 13, 2024 in Santa Ana. Woodward is accused of stabbing his former Orange County School of the Arts classmate Blaze Bernstein to death more than six years ago and burying his body near a Foothill Ranch park.
Samuel Woodward talks to his attorney Edward Munoz during a court hearing at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, CA on Wednesday, August 22, 2018. Woodward is charged with the murder of his former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein in January, 2018. Samuel Lincoln Woodward during a court appearance for the murder of Blaze Bernstein in Santa Ana on Wednesday, Jan 17, 2018. Woodward is being charged with one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a knife. His arraignment was postponed until February.
As a relaxed feeling came over him, Woodward testified that he closed his eyes, “tuned out” and began to nod off. Woodward said he felt Bernstein move close to him, but thought Bernstein was getting something out of the bag. Woodward described himself as “babbling incoherently.” He claimed Bernstein said something to him like “I got you, you hypocrite” while also possibly using the word “outed.”
Woodward said he began yelling at Bernstein at the top of his lungs. He described reaching for Bernstein’s phone in a rage, while also grabbing a knife he had used to open a container of marijuana.