Found Deceased CA - Blaze Bernstein, 19, Lake Forest, 2 Jan 2018 #6 *Arrest*

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Coquette said:
After watching live I think it’s lead the DA wants to do everything possible to keep SW off the streets. It’s also clear that a Hate Crime charge is still possible and there is little chance the charges will be downgraded. MOO.
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In a case with media focus, a DA saying anything other than 'do everything possible to keep him off the street' would be silly as it would make him appear soft on crime and cause public doubt in the strength of the case.

If sometime asked him if [insert charge here] was a possibly, at this stage of the investigation he would have said the same thing regardless of what charge was asked about.

We know that they are vetting the victim's digital footprint and assume they are doing the same with the accused's digital footprint; that's gotta be a ton of data to closely and thoroughly examine.

We need to understand that at this point they know enough to bring charges and meet the threshold to move forward with a case. They don't know everything yet, but they will soon. So at this point many of the specifics cannot be included or excluded.
 
stlrfninca said:
Yes, I got that as well. DA indicated he will prosecute to the "fullest extent that the evidence supports".

He made it very clear that they still have much to do in terms of gathering, reviewing, and deciphering evidence.
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Exactly. Once the arrest is made of any suspect the ongoing investigation will kick into high gear afterwards. It is far from over just because SW has been arrested and charged. They will continue to gather evidence. That is why the DA says additional charges could be added and he did not think they would be downgraded. I have seen in other cases where LE/DA continues to investigate and many times its right up to trial time. I do think this case will go to trial.

I am sure they have other forensics they want to test too that must be sent to the lab. Usually in cases like this they will first send one or two pieces to be tested so they can get the results back quickly in order for the suspect to be arrested. It will take time to go through all of the communication records as well.

I think the DA will do everything he can to bring full justice for Blaze and his family.
 
Cherry said:
property that belonged to SW had BB dna on it (ie the knife?) This is how I interpreted that statement.
Look here, this PC was useless imo. Wow.
Dumbfounded as to why this PC was held...other than to ask for the public to come fwd if they know anything.
Does anyone else wonder if a third party is involved, or if SW had help? Maybe SW lied about BB saying they were meeting up w a third party?
Has the search warrant for SW property and home been sealed as well?
When the entire Nation needed clarity we are given crumbs.
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My presumption is the "property" was the sleeping bag, as reported in the OCR article.

As to the PC, most people haven't been following this case as diligently as we have, and the filing of charges is a key milestone. This is the biggest murder case OC has had since I can remember.

I still wonder about a 3rd party... but it seems less likely to me now than it did a week ago.

I think the warrant for searching SW's house is the one OCR has been slowly feeding us info from... it was sealed not long after OCR obtained a copy of it.

It seems clear that LE still have a lot of work to do - it's in their best interests to not reveal too much information until they know more. I had just expected that by now that they knew more than they seem to.
 
Can LE access older snaps on snapchat? I have seen mixed reports on this, and on the official snapchat website it seems to indicate snap messages are in fact deleted from their servers so cant be accessed. Does anyone know for certain?
 
stlrfninca said:
They were friends in high school - where did you read that?
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He stated at the presser that they attended the same HS, but they did not have evidence that they were friends in HS.

He also stated that they were trying to determine whether they had become friends more recently.
 
clearskies1 said:
My understanding is that a felony defendant has a right to a preliminary hearing within 10 court days of the arraignment/not guilty plea. If the defendant waives that right, he still has a right to have the preliminary hearing within 60 calendar days of the arraignment.
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At this time, is there any word on SW's legal counsel? Does he have one? Would he have to have such representation at any pending formalities, such as the arraignment this afternoon?
 
clearskies1 said:
My understanding is that a felony defendant has a right to a preliminary hearing within 10 court days of the arraignment/not guilty plea. If the defendant waives that right, he still has a right to have the preliminary hearing within 60 calendar days of the arraignment.
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He also has a right to waive the PH altogether. I have seen suspects and their attorneys waive the PH because much can be learned in one since they are like mini-trials. They do so because they do not want all of the sordid details being known to the public. They feel it can often taint the potential jury pool.

When Scott Dyleski murdered Pam Vitale in CA his PH went on for three weeks or more and the evidence against him was made public at that time.

I hope instead he does opt for a PH though.

I also hope we can see a copy of the indictment against him.
 
Niner said:
So, if I have this right - all he has been charged with right now is "Murder", correct?

I wonder if there will be any tweeters in the court room, or jail courtroom..... I hope so! AND that they follow this trial to the end.

Anyone find any tweeters out there yet? TIA!
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Murder plus a sentencing enhancement citing the personal use of a deadly weapon.

"Samuel Lincoln Woodward was charged with murder, along with a sentencing enhancement citing the personal use of a deadly weapon, and remained jailed without bail as he waited to be taken to court early Wednesday afternoon for an arraignment hearing, when he’ll be asked to enter a plea."

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/01/17/charges-samuel-woodward-blaze-bernstein-murder/
 
Samuel Woodward Arraignment - no attorney listed for him, not even a public defender on the court site.




01/17/18 01:30 PM C5 Woodward, Samuel Lincoln Case #18HF0073 Arraignment
 
From OC Sheriff’s Dept. website:

http://www.ocsd.org/about/info/referral/hate

What is a hate crime?
A hate crime (California Penal Code '422.6) is an act, an attempted act, or a threatened act by any person or group of persons to cause physical injury, emotional suffering or property damage against the person of property of another individual or group which is or appears to be motivated, all or in part, by race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. These crimes include, but are not limited to, racist, homophobic, and/or religious graffiti, destruction of other religious symbols, cross burnings, physical assaults, or criminal threats of violence against an individual or a group.

A hate incident is behavior that is motivated by hate or bias towards a person’s actual or perceived disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation but that is not criminal in nature. Typically these behaviors are protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. If this type of activity escalates to threats being made or carried out against a person or property, or becomes an incitement to commit violence it would be classified as a hate crime. Examples – the distribution of non-threatening racist flyers in a public place; displaying non-threatening anti-gay or lesbian placards at a parade or funeral; writing a letter to the editor ridiculing people with disabilities; painting racist graffiti on a freeway overpass.
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ETA: another informative link; more in-depth:

https://www.shouselaw.com/hate-crime.html
 
epiphany said:
He stated at the presser that they attended the same HS, but they did not have evidence that they were friends in HS.

He also stated that they were trying to determine whether they had become friends more recently.
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I took this to mean not that they were not friends, but that the DA/LE didn't have specific evidence to that effect that he could share with the public today.

I think there's ample evidence on social media that they were friends or at the least acquaintances, but LE is still combing through all of this evidence and much more.

The DA still has to be very careful what he says publicly as this is an ongoing investigation.
 
DAnthrplgst said:
So I gotta say, the OC DA sounds like a decent fellow, doesn't seem like he was trying to score political points and is going to treat this case fairly.
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All of that is more than likely true however Todd Spitzer (who put up a $1000 reward for information leading to Blaze's whereabouts before he was found) is gunning for Tony's job and they are in a pretty fierce battle for it. A recent jailhouse informant scandal could play into the outcome, as well. Here is an article that gives more information, if you are interested: https://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/...r-todd-spitzer-to-take-on-da-tony-rackauckas/ All that said, TR knows the public is watching this case closely and he is going to be very careful with how he proceeds. It would be interesting to see if, in conservative OC, information and proceedings may get dragged out a bit until after the upcoming election in June.

ETA: There have been several articles about how TR's election success will hinge on whether or not the voting public in OC "feel safe", not on crime statistics, etc. Interesting to note, given his comments today.
 
Catonahottinroof said:
Can LE access older snaps on snapchat? I have seen mixed reports on this, and on the official snapchat website it seems to indicate snap messages are in fact deleted from their servers so cant be accessed. Does anyone know for certain?
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From the information Snapchat makes publicly available on their website, no. However I recall reading numerous news reports about cases (mostly illegal *advertiser censored*) where images and chats were obtained from the company by LE and used against defendants. So I find myself with doubts about the validity and accuracy of Snapchat's claims which are available here [pdf]:
https://www.snapchat.com/lawenforcement
 
Mica said:
Samuel Woodward Arraignment - no attorney listed for him, not even a public defender on the court site.




01/17/1801:30 PM C5Woodward, Samuel LincolnCase #18HF0073Arraignment
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Maybe he wants to represent himself?
No doubt some big name attorney, or a wannabe will soon step up, given all the attention this case is getting.
 
Mica said:
Samuel Woodward Arraignment - no attorney listed for him, not even a public defender on the court site.
01/17/18 01:30 PM C5 Woodward, Samuel Lincoln Case #18HF0073 Arraignment
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Hmmm.......could he be mounting his own defense?
 
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