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

[SleuthDr]

Does anyone know if drug testing is done by default or frequently following arrests, especially felonies? Naturally I am curious if SW had to offer blood or pee in a cup.

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

Im sorry I dont understand, are you defending murder as a reaction to an unwanted kiss? From a man or woman.

I apologize if I am misunderstanding you.

there seems to be a mindset some people have gotten stuck in. NO ONE is saying it is ok to murder over a kiss--OK?
RUK

 

[veets]

I nearly always carry a pocket knife of some sort. I do remember, however, on several occasions in Orange Country where I was the only person with a pocket knife in the gym, office or at the cook out (somebody asked to borrow one for some reason).

Thus, I am betting that statistically, a solid majority of males in Orange County do not habitually carry pocket knives, let alone a large pocket knife with a locking blade (if that is what the victim was attacked with). Receiving a knife as a gift does not mean that it is habitually carried.

There are, of course, many exceptions given that a million or more males reside in OC. An Eagle scout, as you indicated, would be more likely to be an exception.

In the end, I think there is a somewhat good chance that the suspect deliberately carried a knife that night rather than reached for one he habitually carried.

I live 15 miles from the park, and I carry a knife with me every day. I hold an executive position in a technology company. It's not a large knife but a knife none the less I do not think its odd that people have knifes.

 

[LAhiker]

I am still a little confused about some of this. It says the parents found he had left the house by getting on his social media accounts. But it had been reported that Blaze and SW had communicated with Snapchat. They would n't have been able to read those messages. They might have seen that he had communicated with SW, but not the content. So there must have been some other form of social media being used as well. Its probably irrelevant, but a bit confusing.

I think that in one or more of these many threads, it was mentioned that if BB it's possible to see the last message on Snapchat, I think if it hadn't been sent. Not sure whether this would mean that they looked on the actual device he was using -- such as an iPad that he left at home -- or whether they could also see it if they somehow got into his account via another device.

 

[JaneEyre]

there seems to be a mindset some people have gotten stuck in. NO ONE is saying it is ok to murder over a kiss--OK?
RUK

Your wording has been confusing, even when you attempted to clear it up. I think that's where this is coming from. I'm not sure if possibly you've used sarcasm in parts of your posts, which may have contributed to misunderstanding them.

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[Mica]

Mother of murdered student Blaze Bernstein: 'I lost the most precious gift'

https://www.today.com/news/parents-...e-bernstein-speak-out-about-their-son-t121359

From the link, what beautiful words from Blaze’s broken hearted parents.

Snip

“We celebrated him, everything about him. We wanted him to feel like he could be open about every part of his life,” Jeanne Pepper Bernstein told TODAY’s Natalie Morales. “We wanted him to naturally get to a comfortable place. And he was getting there. He was on his way.”

“I lost my son. I lost the most precious gift,” Jeanne said.

“If we talk about these things now, then this young man will not get a fair trial. And I want that for all of us,” Jeanne said. “I want the legal system to work. I'm an attorney. I value it.”

“I don't know why we were tasked with having to go through this and losing our child, but I told Jeanne that I want to make the best of this,” Gideon said.

The couple started a #DoGoodForBlaze movement to inspire good and help protect other children.

“That's been the inspiration, is the story and trying to turn this into something that could be magical,” Gideon said, adding: “This is a story of hope for the future that has come from a tragedy that no one would ever wish on their worst enemy.”

The couple has been overwhelmed and touched by the support their community has provided.

“It reminds me that people are good. And people really do care about each other,” Jeanne said.

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

Terribly sorry! Please explain

 

[Cryptic]

I live 15 miles from the park, and I carry a knife with me every day. I hold an executive position in a technology company.It's not a large knife but a knife none the less I do not think its odd that people have knifes.

Neither do I. I am carrying one now, have a spare in my work desk, a third one in my car and about 10 more at home of varying sizes.

My knife habits aside, I think that statistically, a good majority of males in Orange County do not habitually carry one. There are, of course, many exceptions given the population of Orange County. For example, 33% of men carrying a knife would yield say, 300,000 knife carriers.

 

[Mominmi]

As a former resident of the area, I would say that it would be unusual, perhaps very unusual for average suburban youths to habitually carry either a fixed blade knife or a large pocket knife with a locking blade (I suspect the murder weapon was one or the other).

There are, of course, exceptions. One of which could be a former Eagle Scout. In addition, it was trendy at one time to have one of the "clip on" spyderco type knives largely as a fashion accessory.

In my son’s scout troop the scoutmaster gives each Scout who attains the rank of Eagle a pocket knife with his name and the date of his attaining Eagle engraved on the blade. My son often has his in his pocket.

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

Your wording has been confusing, even when you attempted to clear it up. I think that's where this is coming from. I'm not sure if possibly you've used sarcasm in parts of your posts, which may have contributed to misunderstanding them.

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In response to above post:

Terribly sorry! Please explain?

 

[LAhiker]

Regarding the knife, I think some crucial questions might be:

1. Did SW routinely carry a knife on his person or in his car?
2. If so, what kind of knife was it? Possibilities include a pocketknife with no way of locking the blade, a folding knife with a locking mechanism, a switchblade, or a fixed knife such as a hunting knife.
3. If SW did routinely carry a knife, how accessible was it typically? Possibilities include in his pocket or on his belt, in a backpack (and where did he usually put the backpack), in the trunk of his car.
4. If SW did routinely carry a knife, were BB's wounds consistent with being attacked with that knife, or did it seem like SW must've brought a different knife with him on that occasion?

While the murder weapon has not been found, presumably BB's wounds have given some indication of what sort of knife was used, from what angle, etc. I'm guessing it would be hard to kill a person using a pocketknife with no locking mechanism, though I don't really know and it might be easier if the victim was much smaller than you were.

While I realize that with 20+ knife wounds, one could argue that premeditation had to have occurred during the attack, a stronger case for premeditation would be made if SW didn't routinely have a knife on his person or in his car, if he would've had to get the knife out of a backpack or the trunk, or if he didn't usually have the kind of knife that must've been used.

(As for my own experience with knives, I used to carry a Swiss Army-style pocketknife in my going-around-town backpack, but got out of the habit after 9/11 meant that that was no longer okay on planes or in many buildings. Now I only carry a Swiss Army knife in my hiking backpack. But I'm not a young man nor an Eagle Scout from Orange County.)

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

I think denying bail requires the murder charge to be enhanced by some special circumstance, like the hate crime connotation. He’s saying the judge didn’t legally have a good reason to go beyond the $1mil bail guideline set by the state for murder.


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Anybody know if First Degree murder implies premeditation or hate crime?

TIA

 

[pamelado2]

I am still a little confused about some of this. It says the parents found he had left the house by getting on his social media accounts. But it had been reported that Blaze and SW had communicated with Snapchat. They would n't have been able to read those messages. They might have seen that he had communicated with SW, but not the content. So there must have been some other form of social media being used as well. Its probably irrelevant, but a bit confusing.

You can set your Snapchat messages to not disappear. Especially (I would think if you're sending someone your address you may want to do that.)

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[Catonahottinroof]

Between the recent search warrant leaks that tried to portray BB as the malicious sexual aggressor/outer of SW, the interview of the defense attorney revealing Eagle Scout status along with the newspaper quoting the priest about SW/stacking the court audience, and all of this re is carrying a pocket knife using a premeditated weapon, Im starting to get a really really bad feeling about how this trial might end up becoming a hashing out of the clash of the culture wars/ politicized lgbt rights vs others values /seconds amendment defense strategy...

I don't like it one bit. Gay Panic defense is illegal but amazingly they have already introduced it to the public in this particular case...

This defense attorney knows exactly what he is doing and I for one am certain he instructed Mrs. Woodward to go out and make that statement to the press using Mrs. Bernstein's name to try and build rapport for SW and his family... "isn't that kind of them to be considerate of the Bernstein's too..." type of thing.

 

[stlrfninca]

Regarding the knife, I think some crucial questions might be:

1. Did SW routinely carry a knife on his person or in his car?
2. If so, what kind of knife was it? Possibilities include a pocketknife with no way of locking the blade, a folding knife with a locking mechanism, a switchblade, or a fixed knife such as a hunting knife.
3. If SW did routinely carry a knife, how accessible was it typically? Possibilities include in his pocket or on his belt, in a backpack (and where did he usually put the backpack), in the trunk of his car.
4. If SW did routinely carry a knife, were BB's wounds consistent with being attacked with that knife, or did it seem like SW must've brought a different knife with him on that occasion?

While the murder weapon has not been found, presumably BB's wounds have given some indication of what sort of knife was used, from what angle, etc. I'm guessing it would be hard to kill a person using a pocketknife with no locking mechanism, though I don't really know and it might be easier if the victim was much smaller than you were.

While I realize that with 20+ knife wounds, one could argue that premeditation had to have occurred during the attack, a stronger case for premeditation would be made if SW didn't routinely have a knife on his person or in his car, if he would've had to get the knife out of a backpack or the trunk, or if he didn't usually have the kind of knife that must've been used.

(As for my own experience with knives, I used to carry a Swiss Army-style pocketknife in my going-around-town backpack, but got out of the habit after 9/11 meant that that was no longer okay on planes or in many buildings. Now I only carry a Swiss Army knife in my hiking backpack. But I'm not a young man nor an Eagle Scout from Orange County.)

@LAhiker I think you nailed it as it relates to the knife.

For me the whole question of whether it would be considered "normal" for SW to have a knife in his possession goes to the question of premeditation, the presumption being that it was not normal and therefore automatically would imply premeditation.

I think it's now been established that as an Eagle Scout and for other reasons, it would be fairly reasonable for SW to have a knife in his possession whether or not he was planning to murder someone, which means premeditation is not automatically a given just because he used a knife.

So, was it premeditated? I think getting answers to the questions you pose above, among other things, will help clarify that.

My opinion, it could still go either way on that question. The mere fact that he had a knife in his possession doesn't answer that question by itself.

 

[veets]

Regarding the knife, I think some crucial questions might be:

1. Did SW routinely carry a knife on his person or in his car?
2. If so, what kind of knife was it? Possibilities include a pocketknife with no way of locking the blade, a folding knife with a locking mechanism, a switchblade, or a fixed knife such as a hunting knife.
3. If SW did routinely carry a knife, how accessible was it typically? Possibilities include in his pocket or on his belt, in a backpack (and where did he usually put the backpack), in the trunk of his car.
4. If SW did routinely carry a knife, were BB's wounds consistent with being attacked with that knife, or did it seem like SW must've brought a different knife with him on that occasion?

While the murder weapon has not been found, presumably BB's wounds have given some indication of what sort of knife was used, from what angle, etc. I'm guessing it would be hard to kill a person using a pocketknife with no locking mechanism, though I don't really know and it might be easier if the victim was much smaller than you were.

While I realize that with 20+ knife wounds, one could argue that premeditation had to have occurred during the attack, a stronger case for premeditation would be made if SW didn't routinely have a knife on his person or in his car, if he would've had to get the knife out of a backpack or the trunk, or if he didn't usually have the kind of knife that must've been used.

(As for my own experience with knives, I used to carry a Swiss Army-style pocketknife in my going-around-town backpack, but got out of the habit after 9/11 meant that that was no longer okay on planes or in many buildings. Now I only carry a Swiss Army knife in my hiking backpack. But I'm not a young man nor an Eagle Scout from Orange County.)

Switch blades are illegal in CA not that SW followed the law, but you can only have a 1.5 inch assisted ( switch blade ) knife in CA.

 

[Cryptic]

Regarding the knife, I think some crucial questions might be:

1. Did SW routinely carry a knife on his person or in his car?
3. If SW did routinely carry a knife, how accessible was it typically? Possibilities include in his pocket or on his belt, in a backpack (and where did he usually put the backpack), in the trunk of his car.
4. If SW did routinely carry a knife, were BB's wounds consistent with being attacked with that knife, or did it seem like SW must've brought a different knife with him on that occasion?

Very good points. A habitually carried knife could be an element of a "panic defense" in which the suspect could claim he just reached for a knife he routinely carried. This could reduce the element of pre-meditation to commit a crime.

If the suspect does not usually carry a knife and especially if it can be shown that the knife was deliberately carried that night, an argument of pre-meditation could be presented by the proscecutor.

The hard part is that pocket knives are carried in well, pockets and it can be hard to disprove an assertion by the defendent that he routinely carried a knife (even one with a locking blade).

I think it's now been established that as an Eagle Scout and for other reasons, it would be fairly reasonable for SW to have a knife in his possession whether or not he was planning to murder someone, which means premeditation is not automatically a given just because he used a knife.

So, was it premeditated?

I wonder when the suspect bought the knife. Didn't he fly to OC from the east coast? Though knives can be carried in checked luggage, a casual traveler may not know that and thus leave their usual knife at home.

Maybe he bought the knife in OC shortly before the rendezvous with the victim? If he did, that could support pre meditation. Even an argument of "Well, I routinely carry one, so I just happened to buy another to use in OC" sounds not very convincing.

 

[Elley Mae]

Snip

They also say Woodward cleaned up the car he used to pick up the Ivy League student.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/murder-sus...nt-blaze-bernstein-multiple/story?id=52376868


A priest and friend of the Woodward family said Woodward was in Church “two Sunday's ago and took communion.”

Woodward’s attorney told me that the family is deeply religious and that he asked for continuation because he hasn’t seen one shred of evidence yet.

.....

Woodward's parents, he noted, go to church "almost daily," and his mother has participated in the bereavement ministry.

http://beta.latimes.com/local/lanow...d-charges-20180118-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1gp2

 

[PrairieWind]

You can set your Snapchat messages to not disappear. Especially (I would think if you're sending someone your address you may want to do that.)

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How do you do that?

 

[DizzyB]

I'd like to see his Eagle Scout credentials...