A woman who stabbed her boyfriend 100 times after inhaling marijuana sobbed in court, while clutching a picture of dog – which she also killed.
Bryn Spejcher, 32, originally from Chicago, committed the horrific attack in May 2018, after taking two hits of her boyfriend’s marijuana ‘bong’.
According to an expert witness, the violent act was a result of a ‘psychotic episode’ caused by the cannabis.
‘Dog lover’ Spejcher is said to have smoked pot just five to ten times in her life, according to testimony heard in the trial that started last week at the Superior Court of California.
Moments after taking two inhalations on the bong — a water pipe used for smoking marijuana — Spejcher, who lives in Thousand Oaks California, began to fell unwell and started to hear voices in her head, according to her testimony.
32 year-old Bryn Spejcher was pictured in a California courtroom sobbing while holding a picture of the dog she brutally killed while allegedly suffering a psychotic episode
The court heard that she then grabbed three knives from the kitchen block and hurled them at O’Melia before stabbing him on every part of his body, leaving fatal wounds on his heart, lungs and vital arteries through his neck.
She then stabbed her dog and began repeatedly driving an eight-inch bread knife into her face and neck.
The former audiologist was originally charged with second-degree murder, however the district attorney has petitioned to make it involuntary manslaughter.
The suggested change — which could reduce the time in custody from 25 years to four — was triggered by testimony from a top forensic psychiatrist, who claimed Ms Spejcher’s crimes were sparked by cannabis-induced psychosis.
Spejcher has been described by the defense as being of ‘good character’: She enjoyed helping others battle hearing loss, having almost become deaf at a young age.
Cannabis is legal in 24 states, with Ohio I becoming the latest to give it the green-light last week.
A psychiatrist’s testimony said she was suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis, adding that in she appeared to be ‘possessed’ in footage taken with police body cameras when they arrived at the scene. The drug is known to cause psychosis, especially if it is used at high strength
It is well established that high potency THC — the psychoactive chemical in cannabis that makes you ‘high’ — can cause serious mental health problems, such as psychosis and schizophrenia.
Those using high-strength versions are up to five times more likely to face a psychotic disorder, studies have also found.
Experts believe the substance causes an imbalance in hormones in the brain — including feel-good chemical dopamine, triggering mental illness.
Although the risks are thought to mostly affect regular users who have been exposed to the drug over many years, doctors are increasingly seeing mental illness in non-regular uses.
This is thought to be due to the rising level of THC in marijuana products available to purchase today.
The young audiologist is said to have used cannabis only a handful of times, while her boyfriend was a regular user
Psychiatrists say that Spejcher’s attack of her ‘beloved’ dog was proof that the drug had altered her state of mind
Bryn Spejcher, 32, (left) is accused of involuntary manslaughter for the killing of Chad O’Melia. She says her attack where she stabbed him 100 times was caused by cannabis use
Studies show THC content in cannabis products has more than quadrupled over just two decades, rising from four percent in 1995 to 17 percent by 2017.
Parents of youngsters using the drug have also described the drug as now being high potency and very different from the ‘Woodstock weed’ they remembered.
While there have been several other horrific, violent crimes linked to cannabis use, the Spejcher case is thought to be the first whereby the victim supplied the drug to the perpetrator.
THC was detected in the blood of both Spejcher and O’Melia, however it is not possible to verify the potency.
Expert witnesses said that her out-of-character reaction suggests it was much stronger than other forms of cannabis during pre-trial hearings.
O’Melia’s father contends that Spejcher acted with malicious intent to kill his son
However, O’Melia’s father Sean O’Melia says that Spejcher knew what she was doing and ‘viciously and prematurely ended’ his son’s life. Spejcher, who has no history of mental illness, denies all charges.
Her defense attorney claims she did not want to smoke that night but was pressured into it by O’Melia.
Spejcher and O’Melia met at a dog park in the spring of 2018 and had begun to see each other regularly — bonding over their love of dogs.
‘She liked Chad,’ her attorney Robert Schwartz told the jury during his opening statement. ‘There was never any conflict… It was an entirely harmonious relationship.’
On the night of 27 May, 2018, O’Melia, an accountancy student, had asked his girlfriend to his apartment which he shared with two roommates.
The pair initially watched TV and talked a little.
Just after midnight, O’Melia asked her whether she would like to try marijuana using his bong, according to testimony from the defense heard in court last week.
O’Melia is said to have been a regular cannabis user — smoking or using a bong most days.
Spejcher had only used the drug a few times and had never experienced a high.
She took a few puffs but told O’Melia she didn’t feel anything.
This led him to respond with a promise of getting ‘something more intense’, according to local reports.
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He is said to have then lit his bong and filled the chamber with smoke, moving his hand away from the opening to allow Spejcher to inhale.
She had an ‘immediate negative reaction’, prosecutor Audry Nofzinger said.
In pre-trial testimony, she is described as having gone to the bathroom but starting to suffer blurry vision, being unable to breathe and feeling like she was dying.
She told law enforcement that she then heard voices in her head telling her to start to fight, at which point she went to the kitchen, grabbed knives from the knife block and started stabbing O’Melia.
‘She thought she was dead,’ said prosecutor Ms Nofzinger. ‘She had an out-of-body experience.
‘She could see her own dead body, and she could hear voices, emergency room doctors doing CPR, her family, other voices, unknown voices, telling her that to bring herself back to life, she would have to kill Chad O’Melia.’
O’Melia suffered stab wounds all over his body, including to the heart, lungs and carotid artery in the neck — with each possibly proving fatal.
Footage from police body cameras shown in court shows Spejcher crouching near O’Melia’s body while she stabs herself repeatedly in the neck and face.
Officers entered the scene and were only able to get her to drop the knife by striking her nine times with his retractable steel baton, reports the VC Star.
Forensic pathologist, Dr Kris Mohandie, who has over 20 years experience in the assessment and management of violent behavior, previously told the prosecution in September that her state was a sign of cannabis-induced psychosis.
He described her as appearing ‘possessed’ in the footage, which was consistent with acute psychosis.
In a review, he added that the stabbing of ‘her own beloved dog, without any evidence of animal cruelty tendencies, is highly inconsistent with her love of dogs and underscores her level of impairment’.
Psychosis is a mental condition characterized by a disconnection from reality, where sufferers may suffer from hallucinations, disorganized thoughts or even say they are hearing voices.
O’Melia and Spejcher initially bonded over their shared love of dogs and had been seeing each other for several weeks before the attack took place
Regular use of THC quantities above ten percent are linked to a higher risk of addiction, violent behavior and a newly recognized condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or ‘scromiting’.
‘It means screaming and violent vomiting,’ Dr Roneet Lev, an emergency doctor at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego previously told DailyMail.com.
‘I call it the audible cannabis condition, because I hear the violent screams down the hall before I see the patient.’
Before 2016, Dr Lev rarely saw patients with this problem. Now she sees at least one per shift. Symptoms can continue for days, or weeks, and there is no effective treatment.
Police arrived at Chad O’Melia’s apartment in May 2018 to find him with multiple stab wounds and his girlfriend, Bryn Spejcher, stabbing herself repeatedly
This case echoes that of previous killings, in which the accused is known to have used high potency cannabis.
In 2014, a 50-year-old man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in jail after shooting his wife in the head at the couple’s home in Denver, Colorado.
Richard Kirk was initially charged with first-degree murder — which is premediated or deliberate — but this was dropped after the defense argued that marijuana, which Kirk was consuming for back pain, had severely impaired his judgement.
They had also argued he had suffered ‘involuntary intoxication’ because he did not know he was at high risk for marijuana psychosis due to schizophrenia in his extended family.
In 2018, a Canadian man from Ontario was sentenced to five years in prison for stabbing and beheading his father in front of friends.
The court heard how Adam Kehl, then 31, was a heavy cannabis user but was not aware that the drug could trigger psychotic behavior.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, which was filed after a psychiatrist said he was suffering from cannabis-induced intoxication.
At sentencing, he said in a statement: ‘I accept the consequences. I understand the fact that my marijuana use was a key factor in what happened. I was not aware marijuana use could do such a thing. Had I known, I never would have started.’
Judge Michelle Fuest described the case as ‘horrifying and unusually brutal’.
Spejcher’s trial began yesterday and is set to last for several weeks.
The jury will determine whether Spejcher’s intoxication which led to the attack was voluntary or involuntary.