A California judge this week sentenced a woman to two years’ probation for involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 fatal stabbing of a man she was dating, who sustained more than 100 “sharp-force injuries,” according to attorneys and court records.
Bryn Spejcher, 33, faced up to five years in prison for stabbing Chad O’Melia, 26, in his Thousand Oaks home on May 28, 2018, after the pair had smoked marijuana together.
Experts for both the defense and the prosecution concluded the high-potency pot she smoked caused her to slip into a psychotic state.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley sentenced Spejcher on Tuesday to two years’ probation, as well as community service. She must complete “100 hours of public education on the dangers of THC consumption,” according to Ventura County court documents.
Audry Nafziger, who prosecuted the case for the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, said Thursday that the judge’s sentence did not serve justice and that it was “problematic.”
“It sets a very dangerous precedent,” Nafziger said. “It’s also a slap in the face to the victim’s family and speaks poorly to victims’ relief everywhere that … it’s OK to smoke marijuana and butcher someone with three knives. But it’s not OK to smoke marijuana and drive and kill someone. That will send you to jail. … It doesn’t square.”
She said Spejcher caused O’Melia 108 “sharp-force injuries.”
Spejcher’s attorneys, Michael Goldstein and Robert Schwartz, said in a statement Thursday that the sentencing reflects that their client was in a “cannabis induced psychotic breakdown” during the violent episode.
They said O’Melia purchased and provided the high-potency marijuana “that included a clear warning that it was for ‘high tolerance users only.’ That warning was presented at…
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