Callum Jones
A woman who fatally stabbed her boyfriend 108 times has avoided jail time and will instead perform 100 hours of community service.
Bryn Spejcher, 33, met Chad O’Melia at a dog park and had been dating for just a few weeks when the unthinkable happened.
On the evening of 27 May, 2018, Spejcher and O’Melia smoked marijuana together at the latter's apartment in Thousand Oaks, California.
Testimony showed that under the influence of the psychotic episode, Spejcher stabbed her boyfriend 108 times with different knives, before stabbing herself.
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When law enforcement arrived shortly after midnight, O’Melia was covered in a pool of blood.
According to the Ventura Country Star, Spejcher was screaming hysterically and holding a knife she had stabbed into her neck.
Officials used a taser and several batons to disarm her before paramedics arrived at the scene and saved her life.
Spejcher’s lawyers said during the trial that she was 'involuntarily intoxicated' during the tragic incident, claiming that O’Melia had pressured her into taking the last bong hit - which is said to have led to the psychotic episode.
People are responsible for their actions when impaired by alcohol or drugs unless their intoxication was involuntary, according to California criminal law.
The jury took just four hours to find Spejcher guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley ruled that Spejcher 'had no control over her actions' when O’Melia died.
Now, the 33-year-old will undergo 100 hours of community service as her punishment.
At the sentencing on Tuesday, Spejcher sobbed in court as she apologized to Sean O’Melia, the father of the victim.
“My actions have ripped your family apart,” an emotional Spejcher said, according to the Ventura Country Star.
"I am broken and aching inside. I hurt that you never see Chad again."
The woman's father, Mike Spejcher, said: "She has worked her whole life helping others," who also noted his daughter’s hearing impairment and her work as a licensed audiologist before the tragic evening last May.
Chad, meanwhile, accused Judge Worley of being biased, adding that the judge has set a dangerous precedent with his lates ruling.
“He just gave everyone in the state of California who smokes marijuana a license to kill someone," he said.
While Brendan O’Melia, the victim’s uncle, added: "There is no winner in this tragedy. There can be, however, accountability.”