A courtroom disruption by Samuel Woodward, accused of stabbing former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein to death more than six years ago and burying the body near a Lake Forest park, has delayed the ongoing jury selection and the start of his upcoming high-profile murder trial.
In the midst of jury selection on Thursday, Feb. 29, a “disruption in the proceedings was caused” by Woodward, according to court minutes, prompting Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger to dismiss prospective jurors who were in the courtroom.
Attorneys and court officials declined to further describe the disruption beyond the general information contained in court records.
Following the disruption, Woodward’s defense attorney did not immediately raise concerns about his client’s mental competency, according to court records. Concerns about Woodward’s mental state were raised in 2022, but Judge Menninger ruled that Woodward was competent to stand trial based on evaluations by mental-health experts.
Jury selection in the trial has been ongoing for the past two weeks. Large groups of jurors were given questionnaires asking about their backgrounds and the hot-button issues expected to come up during the trial. The jurors then return to the Santa Ana courtroom for direct questioning by attorneys and the judge.
The trial’s estimated length — several months — along with the international media attention surrounding the killing and expected testimony involving homophobia and racist material has complicated the jury-selection process.
On Tuesday, attorneys are expected to discuss whether to dismiss prospective jurors who are part of the larger jury pool for the trial but were not actually in the courtroom for the disruption. Starting jury selection from scratch would require a new pool of several hundred prospective jurors and further delay the trial’s start.
Woodward is accused of stabbing the 19-year-old Bernstein to death when the two former Orange…
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