As a 20-year-old Newport Beach man awaited arraignment Friday for allegedly killing a gay former high school classmate, Orange County's top prosecutor and a state senator announced they would seek legislation to make a murderer motivated by gender or sexual orientation eligible for life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
While researching the law to consider whether 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student Blaze Bernstein was killed because he was gay, prosecutors realized they could not attach a special circumstance allegation to the 1st-degree murder charge for the Ivy League student's accused killer, Samuel Lincoln Woodward.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas called it a "glaring omission" in the law that murder defendants who kill because of animus toward women or homosexuals cannot get the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The law does allow for capital punishment for killers motivated by race or religion.
Rackauckas said it appeared to him lawmakers "intentionally left out" other protected classes such as gays and women.
If prosecutors find out that Bernstein was killed because of his sexual orientation, then they could file a hate crime allegation against Woodward, which allows a judge to tack on more years in prison if the defendant is convicted. Because Bernstein was stabbed to death, Woodward already faces 26 years to life in prison if found guilty.
Rackauckas called the office of Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Garden Grove, to help amend the law. Nguyen's district includes Santa Ana, where the D.A.'s office is located, but it does not include Lake Forest where Bernstein's body was discovered in a shallow grave.
A message left with state Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, who is the state minority leader, was not immediately returned. Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, whose district includes Lake Forest was not immediately available for comment, but Rackauckas' chief of staff, Susan Schroeder, said her office doubted he would support a change in the law.
Nguyen noted that she recently worked with Rackauckas' office on a law to punish anyone who dumps a body.
Bernstein was last seen by Woodward late the night of Jan. 2, and he was found dead a week later in a shallow grave at Borrego Park near his family's home.
Woodward, who is being held without bail, and Bernstein were classmates at the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana and had reconnected through the social media platform Snapchat. Bernstein was home from college on winter break when he was slain.
According to Rackauckas, Woodward picked up Bernstein from his parents' Lake Forest home about 11 p.m. Jan. 2, and drove him to a shopping center on Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch. Later, the 2 went to Borrego Park in Lake Forest, he said.
At some point, Woodward allegedly stabbed Bernstein multiple times, then buried the body in a dirt perimeter at the park.
Rackauckas declined to discuss a possible motive for the killing, but a search warrant affidavit recently obtained by the Orange County Register suggested that Bernstein may have tried to kiss Woodward, who responded by killing him in an act of rage.
The district attorney conceded that the case remained under investigation, and said prosecutors were reviewing whether the killing could be considered a hate crime.
Bernstein's parents - Gideon and Jeanne - issued a statement last month noting that possibility.
"Our son was a beautiful, gentle soul who we loved more than anything," the Bernsteins said. "We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community. There is still much discovery to be done and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime."
In late January, ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news site, reported that 3 people who knew Woodward said he was part of the Atomwaffen Division, an armed fascist organization that aims to overthrow the government through guerrilla tactics and terrorism. Atomwaffen Division has been linked to 4 other murders and a bomb plot over the past 8 months, according to ProPublica.
Rackauckas declined to comment on those reports.
Source: mynewsla.com, February 3, 2018
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