Murr of Gay Teen Blaze Bernste Is Regnized as Hate Crime

Contents:

• FIVE YEARS LATER, A GAY JEWISH STUNT’S ALLEGED KILLER IS GOG TO TRIAL
• THE MAN ACCED OF KILLG HIS GAY CLASSMATE WAS SEXUALLY 'CONFED,' ATTORNEY SAYS
• GAY JEWISH STUNT'S ALLEGED NEO-NAZI MURRER FAC JUDGE
• CALIFORNIA MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY KILLG OF GAY STUNT BLAZE BERNSTE
• COLLEGE STUNT MURRED ON BREAK WAS KILLED BY FORMER CLASSMATE BEE HE WAS GAY: PROSECUTORS
• NEO-NAZI ACCED OF MURRG OF GAY JEWISH TEEN BLAZE BERNSTE TO STAND TRIAL
• HOW A GAY TEEN, AN INTER NAZI, AND A LATE-NIGHT RENZVO TURNED TO TRAGEDY
• HATE CRIME CHARG ADD MURR OF GAY TEEN
• DA: MURR SPECT STABBED EX-CLASSMATE TO ATH BEE VICTIM WAS GAY
• BLAZE BERNSTE SPECT USED ANTI-GAY SLUR — FUELG HATE CRIME SPICN
• CALIFORNIA MAN TO STAND TRIAL FOR MURR OF GAY PENN STUNT

FIVE YEARS LATER, A GAY JEWISH STUNT’S ALLEGED KILLER IS GOG TO TRIAL

The spect the 2018 murr of Blaze Bernste, a Jewish and gay llege stunt, will be urt Friday for the first time sce a California judge led him petent to stand trial. Bernste’s fay hop the pretrial hearg marks the begng of the end of their wa for jtice a se that prosecutors will prent as a crime of homophobia. A Universy of Pennsylvania sophomore home for wter break, Bernste, 19, was stabbed to ath and buried an Orange County park.

Blaze Bernste, brilliant, kd-hearted, Jewish and gay, had e home om llege for the holidays and Pepper Bernste: He wanted to spend time wh . Raiah Rofsky: Racist, homophobic, sexist. Raiah Rofsky: He left after sophomore year of high Smh: And did you fd out why?

THE MAN ACCED OF KILLG HIS GAY CLASSMATE WAS SEXUALLY 'CONFED,' ATTORNEY SAYS

Raiah Rofsky: Bee he was lerally known as beg a crazy, homophobic, racist guy. Former Atomwaffen member: Like, he killed a gay fally, a one-time member agreed to talk. It was like a mararie type of feelg … mon Smh: And those terts were hatg other groups, hatg Jews, hatg gays, hatg blacks?

Jake Hanrahan: They ll him the gay, the one-man gay, Jew wreckg ball. You know, like kd of revelg this ia that he's killed this gay, Jewish "wannab" lghg at the murr of Blaze Orange Smh: "LOL OC.

GAY JEWISH STUNT'S ALLEGED NEO-NAZI MURRER FAC JUDGE

" Lghg at the fact that Blaze Bernste's life was Atomwaffen member: Everyone Atomwaffen believ Jewish people jt need to be wiped off the face of the Arnold Rachlis: As the story unfold that the murr was related to homophobia and antisemism, well then the anger the muny and the anxiety ratcheted up. Tracy Smh: Do you thk that Blaze was murred bee he was gay, and bee he was Jewish? FIGHTING HATE WITH LOVEDetectiv say Sam Woodward went onle trollg gay men, pretendg he was terted a sexual hookup.

He claims to be somebody who hat gays and wants to e harm to Hanrahan: In fact on his Tr he said, "I'm gog huntg. We will prove that Woodward killed Blaze bee Blaze was gay. …He hat homosexuals.

CALIFORNIA MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY KILLG OF GAY STUNT BLAZE BERNSTE

He hat people of all different kds of tegori who are not Gion and Jeanne Bernste, epened the darkt Bernste [to reporters]: Today we suffer an add layer of pa om learng that he was likely killed simply bee of who he was as a human Blaze's olst iend Raiah Rofsky, who is Jewish and intifi as bisexual, brgs an unsettlg Rofsky: I have to be reful and I'm Smh: You tly feel Rofsky: I Arnold Rachlis: There has to be zero tolerance of homophobia, zero tolerance of racism, of antisemism, of immigrant Blaze's grandma Leah, who wore that yellow Nazi star, sadns and belief blend to Bernste: It's very paful.

Produced by Jam Stolz and Gayane Khishyan Menz. A 21-year-old California man acced of killg his gay former classmate stggled wh his own sexualy and tism spectm disorr, which ed him to fall wh an onle group of whe supremacists, his attorney said Woodward, 21, has been charged wh first-gree murr wh a hate crime enhancement for killg someone bee of their sexual orientatn the ath of 19-year-old Blaze Bernste. It has been five long years of seekg jtice sce gay Universy of Pennsylvania stunt Blaze Bernste was fay hop a judge will move the se agast the teen’s acced killer forward.

The spect is schled to appear for a pre-trial hearg a California urt Friday, acrdg to the news se Woodward, now 25, is acced of killg 19-year-old sophomore Blaze Bernste 2018 bee he was gay, prosecutors say.

COLLEGE STUNT MURRED ON BREAK WAS KILLED BY FORMER CLASSMATE BEE HE WAS GAY: PROSECUTORS

”From Your Se ArticlBlaze Bernste's Acced Killer to Be Held Whout Bail ›Acced Killer Sent Photos of Dead Gay Men to Grdr Contacts ›Rumors, a Gay Kiss, and a Teenager's Murr ›Murr of Gay Teen Blaze Bernste Is Regnized as Hate Crime ›. Prosecutors have said that DNA lks the spect to the killg and that his cellphone ntaed anti-gay, anti-Semic and whe hate group Woodward talks to his attorney Edward Munoz durg a urt hearg at the Harbor Jtice Center Newport Beach, California, on Aug.

— A Southern California man plead not guilty on Friday to the murr of a gay Universy of Pennsylvania stunt a hate Woodward, a 21-year-old om Newport Beach, California, entered the plea durg a hearg Orange County Superr was prevly set at $5 ln but Judge Kimberly Mennger orred Woodward held whout bail at prosecutors' requt, sayg she believed he would be a danger to the muny if he were released.

Woodward is charged the January stabbg ath of llege sophomore Blaze Bernste, who was home visg his fay on wter break. Bernste, who was gay and Jewish, went missg after he went out wh Woodward to a park Lake Fort, California. Prosecutors have said DNA evince lks Woodward to the crime and his cellphone ntaed trov of anti-gay, anti-Semic and whe hate group materials.

NEO-NAZI ACCED OF MURRG OF GAY JEWISH TEEN BLAZE BERNSTE TO STAND TRIAL

California prosecutors now believe a gay llege stunt was stabbed to ath while he was home on wter break this year bee of his sexual orientatn, PEOPLE nfirms.

HOW A GAY TEEN, AN INTER NAZI, AND A LATE-NIGHT RENZVO TURNED TO TRAGEDY

“We will prove that Woodward killed Blaze bee Blaze was gay, ” Tony Rackckas, the D.

HATE CRIME CHARG ADD MURR OF GAY TEEN

In a news release obtaed by PEOPLE, Rackckas said the anti-gay allegatn was based on Woodward’s digal activi — evince obtaed om his “cell phone, laptop, and social media” — that “revealed the dark si of [his] thoughts and tentns.

DA: MURR SPECT STABBED EX-CLASSMATE TO ATH BEE VICTIM WAS GAY

“They uld be scribed as racist, homophobic, anti-Semic, misogynistic and anti-ernment, ” he said.

Universy of Pennsylvania sophomore Blaze Bernste was spendg time at home wh his fay Southern California for wter break when he went missg on Jan. A neo-Nazi, who was acced of the murr of gay Jewish teenager Blaze Bernste, will stand trial this week, five years on om Bernste’s ath. Prev tails unvered the trial found that Woodward’s phone ntaed more than 100 exampl of homophobic and antisemic ntent at the time of the killg, as well as materials related to Atomwaffen.

BLAZE BERNSTE SPECT USED ANTI-GAY SLUR — FUELG HATE CRIME SPICN

Bernste was gay and Jewish, the grandson of a Holot survivor. Prosecutors pot to a mounta of evince showg Woodward was a member of Atomwaffen Divisn, a vlent hate group that promoted, among other forms of hate, anti-Semism and homophobia. The killg and s chillg circumstanc helped shed light on the “silence around beg gay, ” said Lra Kanter, director of policy, advocy and youth programs at the LGBT Center OC Santa Ana.

“Blaze wasn’t murred bee he was gay. He was murred bee of hate and homophobia. “The man acced of the crime was anti-Semic, anti-gay, ” Jeanne Bernste said, addg that her son’s murr brought notoriety to the hate group to which Woodward belonged.

CALIFORNIA MAN TO STAND TRIAL FOR MURR OF GAY PENN STUNT

Hate crime experts who tracked social media the days and weeks after Bernste’s murr and Woodward’s arrts saw neo-Nazis’ msag of celebratn ngratulatg Woodward for killg a person who was both gay and Jewish. Through this social media page, they’ve wnsed one of Blaze’s former classmat om the Orange County School of the Arts e out to his parents as a gay man.

The group had been nnected wh four other murrs by 2017, and their chat logs were full of vective about Jews and gay people. “He was quirg a lot terms of my inty and wanted to know more, ” Jared told me, “and that really surprised me bee of how homophobic he was and bee of all the opposed beliefs he had to my own.

Jared had been openly gay sce sixth gra.