Stoned weed woman gets 100 hours of community service after stabbing more than 100 times

A California woman who stabbed her date to death while high on marijuana has been sentenced to only community service and probation.

On May 27, 2018, Thousand Oaks resident Bryn Spejcher, 32, went to the apartment of her date, Chad O'Melia, 26, whom she had been seeing for about two weeks.

There, the two smoked marijuana, at which point Spejcher allegedly suffered a psychotic break known as cannabis-induced psychotic disorder.

“During that psychotic break, he stabbed O'Melia [108] times [with different knives], eventually killing him. He also stabbed himself repeatedly,” according to the local station KTLA.

“The next morning, officers arrived at the apartment to find O'Melia in a pool of blood and Spejcher screaming hysterically while still holding a knife. As officers tried to disarm her, Spejcher stabbed her the knife to the neck,” the station reported on Tuesday.

Officers were then forced to use a taser and batons to disarm her and wrest a “long-toothed bread knife” from her hands.

O'Melia was reportedly pronounced dead at the scene, while Spejcher has been out on bond since the murder.

“It's been five and a half years where he's been living with his family and we're living with a box of ashes,” O'Melia's brother Shane O'Melia told the station.

All that was expected to change on Tuesday, the day of Spejcher's manslaughter conviction.

Friends and family of Chad O'Melia, who was stabbed to death on May 28, 2018, protest in front of the #VenturaCounty High Court before tomorrow's ruling.

Convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Bryn Spejcher faces four years in prison. pic.twitter.com/I2rUQj3VSW

— Makena Huey (@MakenaHuey) January 22, 2024

But even though he had been looking at four years in prison, the judge decided to slap him on the wrist, further infuriating O'Melia's family.

“Bryn Spejcher was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation and no jail time. … The sentence also includes 100 hours of community service focused on raising awareness about the effects of marijuana-induced psychosis,” according to the Ventura County Star.

“Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley said his decision was based on not guilty, stating that the 'senseless' killing in the early morning hours of May 28, 2018, was prompted by the psychotic episode that prosecution and defense experts attributed to the marijuana bongs Spejcher and O'Melia smoked,” the newspaper reported.

“From that point on, he had no control over his actions,” Worley said before announcing the paltry sentence.

After the verdict, O'Melia's father, Sean, accused Worley of bias and warned that his decision set a dangerous precedent.

“He gave everybody in the state of California who smokes pot a license to kill somebody,” he rightly noted.

During her sentencing hearing this morning in Ventura Co Superior Court, Bryn Spejcher was sentenced to 2 years probation and no jail time. A jury found Spejcher guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month. @TOAcornNews pic.twitter.com/f8jWjwj6cw

— Michael Coons (@Michael_Coons) January 24, 2024

KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl seemed to agree.

“Do you feel a precedent? I don't know if it does, but it's certainly a case that defense attorneys will cite when they're asking for parole in a case like this,” he said.

As for why the judge made such an outrageous decision, Triessl attributed it to several factors.

“It took into account his lack of criminal record, his professional standing in the community and the fact that he was suffering from severe psychosis at the time of the murder and really didn't know what he was doing,” he said.

Not much is known about O'Melia other than what the Ventura Star reported.

“He was from Santa Clarita and had graduated from Chico State University. He was living in an apartment in Thousand Oaks with two roommates and their dog and was working at an accounting firm and studying to become a CPA,” according to the newspaper.

“He was friendly, motivated and a friend to everyone. He had a laugh that drew people to him, friends and family said during the sentencing. They also talked about Michelle Larrivee, Chad's mother who died in a diabetic coma less than two years after her son's death. His friends said death was caused by a broken heart.”

In response to Spejcher's paltry sentence, members of the public have been crying foul, with some also disputing the claim that his marijuana use had anything to do with the murder.

Look at:

Ridiculous, cannabis does not cause this. #reefermadness

— Johnny Zohar (@SexyJC8675309) January 24, 2024

I could have stabbed your date 100 times, but I'm not buying weed had anything to do with it.

Weed is a depressant and doesn't really affect the mind in this mansion.

— CMuirhead (@CMuirhead24) January 24, 2024

This will be rotated.

They can't have that. Criminals everywhere will get away with saying they were high

— Richard T Murtagh (@RichardTMurtagh) January 24, 2024

There is absolutely no way in the world unless it was linked or it was the synthetic K2 garbage that actually induces psychosis in people from time to time. It's called spiceophrenia. I have known someone who was hospitalized 30 days after this. Weed, ground? No.

— WildlyNormal (@WildlyNormal) January 23, 2024

Marijuana smokers: pic.twitter.com/9M1Fxy353t

— East Coast Overdose (@ZeppelinSb) January 23, 2024

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a BizPac Review staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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