Why California woman who stabbed partner 100 times won’t go to jail

A California woman, who was found guilty of stabbing her partner 108 times, will not go to jail. Bryn Spejcher, 32, stabbed Chad O’Melia during a drug-induced psychotic episode in 2018 and was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. On Tuesday, she was given a two-year probationary sentence and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, as per NDTV. Let’s take a closer look. The brutal murder The stabbing incident occurred overnight between 27 and 28 May 2018, according to the prosecutors, at O’Melia’s Thousand Oaks apartment. It was said that Spejcher, an audiologist originally from Chicago who now resides in Thousand Oaks, California, fatally stabbed her boyfriend, an accountant, about 108 times after they smoked marijuana together. According to Dailymail, Spejcher, who is partially deaf, said at the time that after taking one bong blow, she “did not want to smoke anymore.” In her testimony, she claimed she felt “pressured” by O’Melia, who was a regular smoker and who she’d been dating for a month. After taking a few puffs of the strong cannabis-infused vapour for the second time, Spejcher started to “see and hear things that weren’t there,” think she was dead, and feel she had to stab O’Melia to survive. Leading forensic psychiatrists in the nation came to the conclusion that this experience “100 per cent” matched earlier reports of cannabis-induced psychosis. Spejcher reported feeling like a dead body, hearing and seeing “things that weren’t there,” and seeing her corpse “from up above.” According to the report, she said she saw what appeared to be someone else’s hands — “like in a movie” — when she reached for the bread knife that pierced O’Melia’s abdomen. “And then it went black.” That’s when she started stabbing O’Melia, then her dog Arya, and finally her own neck. “In the early morning hours of May 28, 2018, law enforcement arrived at the apartment to find Mr. O’Melia in a pool of blood and Spejcher screaming hysterically with a knife still in her hands,” according to District Attorney Erik Nasarenko’s office statement, reported Fox News. “Before law enforcement could disarm her, Spejcher plunged the knife into her own neck,” prosecutors said in a statement after her conviction. “Officers used a taser and several baton blows before they were able to finally disarm Spejcher.” O’Melia was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, while Spejcher was ultimately convicted by a jury of involuntary manslaughter. The judgement In the courtroom, Spejcher’s attorneys contended that their client, an inexperienced marijuana user, was “involuntarily intoxicated” at the time of the murder because O’Melia had forced her to take another bong hit when she didn’t feel high from the previous one. “Spejcher had an adverse reaction to the marijuana and suffered from what experts call Cannabis-Induced Psychotic Disorder. During that psychotic episode, Spejcher stabbed O’Melia multiple times killing him,” according to the statement, reported CBS News. According to the report, Superior Court Judge David Worley ruled that Bryn Spejcher “had no control over her actions” when she entered into a psychotic episode and stabbed Chad O’Melia. As per local newspaper The Thousand Oaks Acorn, Spejcher’s first murder charges were reduced to involuntary manslaughter over objections from O’Melia’s family due to the presence of “cannabis-induced psychotic disorder.” The changes took place several days before her trial.

Friends and family of Chad O’Melia—who was stabbed to death May 28, 2018—protest outside the #VenturaCounty Superior Court ahead of tomorrow’s sentencing.

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

— Makena Huey (@MakenaHuey) January 22, 2024

The report quoted the victim’s father Sean O’Melia as saying in a letter to county leaders, “The case should be tried for what it is, murder. It’s not some accident." Protesters outside the courthouse held signs supporting O’Melia’s family and calling for Judge David Worley to hand down a severe punishment during Tuesday’s hearing in response to the reduced charges. In the end, the court sentenced the accused party to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. “He just gave everyone in the state of California who smokes marijuana a license to kill someone,” Sean O’Melia said. However, Spejcher’s lawyer, Bob Schwartz, feels pleased with the ruling. “Judge Worley did the right and courageous thing,” he said. The connection between cannabis and psychosis Marijuana use has become more socially acceptable in American society. According to a report published in the National Library of Medicine, more than 200 million Americans live in states that have legalised marijuana for medical or recreational use. The report titled Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than You Think suggests the number of Americans who use cannabis heavily is rising. In 2006, about three million US residents reported using the drug at least 300 times a year, the standard for daily use. By 2017, the number had risen to eight million – approaching the 12 million Americans who drank every day. In simple terms, only one in 15 drinkers consumed alcohol daily; and about one in five marijuana users used cannabis that often. Today, they are consuming cannabis, which is far more potent than ever since it contains high levels of THC or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical responsible for the drug’s psychoactive effects. Various reports have shown a link between regular cannabis consumption and a five-fold increased risk of developing psychosis. Studies have shown the increased THC content of marijuana products currently on the market, which can be up to ten times higher than the amount that is found in the plant naturally. Experts believe the drug leads to an imbalance in brain hormones, notably the happy-making hormone dopamine, which in turn promotes mental illness. According to a study that analysed hospitalisations in Canada since weed legalisation, there was 40 per cent rise in hospital admissions for cannabis-induced psychosis due to “commercialisation” of the substance. Dailymail reported the study authors cautioned against the negative effects of the “rapid growing” cannabis market. Marijuana in the US Last year, President Joe Biden’s pardon of certain marijuana-related crimes made headlines. The announcement was an expansion of an earlier proclamation in October 2022 that pardoned people convicted of simple possession under federal law, according to USA Today. Though the pardon was granted, the country is nevertheless engulfed in a chaotic patchwork of state laws. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug, which means it has the same potential for abuse as substances like heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Biden’s Health and Human Services Department has recommended that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III drug, a suggestion that the DEA is now reviewing. That might alter how police departments enforce marijuana laws and reduce the tax burden on companies selling the substance in places where it is legal, as per The Guardian. With inputs from agencies