A woman who stabbed a man more than 100 times before she turned the knife on herself during what was described as a “marijuana-induced psychotic state” will not serve any prison time, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Bryn Spejcher, a Thousand Oaks resident, has been ordered to serve 100 hours of community service and two years of probation for the deadly stabbing of Chad O’Melia. Spejcher, during a state of psychosis triggered by marijuana, stabbed O’Melia more than 100 times on May 27, 2018, after they smoked the drug together.
“She inhaled, and then from that point on, she went into a psychotic state,” said Audry Nafziger, a Ventura County Deputy Prosecutor. “Shortly thereafter, she picked up three different knives from his kitchen and she slaughtered him, penetrating every major organ, all over his body, his face.”
According to Nafziger, body camera worn by responding police officers that night showed the defendant didn’t even realize when law enforcement arrived.
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“When they arrived, she was kneeling over him, covered in blood.,” Nafziger said. “He was dead on the ground and she was stabbing herself with a 10-inch serrated red knife, covered in blood in the neck multiple times. She severed her carotid artery, or she cut her carotid artery -- nicked it. They had to tase her four times.”
Because Spejcher was under psychosis at the time of the stabbing, she was charged with involuntary manslaughter instead of murder. The victim’s family said they are disheartened at the judge’s decision to not give the defendant any prison time.
“This guy just gave everyone in the county a license to kill people after they smoke marijuana,” said Sean O’Melia, the victim’s father.
