The father of Chad O’Melia, who was stabbed to death by a pot-crazed doctor, claims the judge favored ‘white educated women’ after she avoided jail – and reveals to Daily Mail that his grief-stricken ex- wife died during the trial

The distraught father of a tragic California man who was fatally stabbed 108 times by his new lover has claimed the judge showed “clear bias” and said the killer avoided prison because of her “gender, education and age.”

On Tuesday, Bryn Spejcher, 33, received the remarkably light sentence of 100 hours of community service, two years of probation and no jail time for stabbing Chad O’Melia to death in May 2018.

The audiology doctor saw her charge reduced from murder to involuntary manslaughter in September. This followed expert testimony stating that the attack was ‘100 percent’ caused by cannabis-induced psychosis.

On the night of the attack, in May 2018, Ms. Spejcher, who was not a regular smoker, took two puffs from a bong filled with potent marijuana supplied by Mr. O’Melia, then 26, at his Thousand Oaks apartment.

Minutes later, she suffered hallucinations that told her to take a bread knife and plunge it into Chad’s stomach. The voices told her to “go ahead” with the attack because it would “bring her back from the dead,” according to court reports.

She also stabbed her dog and herself several times in the neck and face, and had to undergo emergency surgery to save her life.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the victim’s father, Sean O’Melia, 57, who oversees construction at UCLA, has spoken out passionately against the Ventura District Judge’s assertion that ‘no custodial sentence is necessary’ for Mrs. Spejcher, as she was. ‘no control over her actions’.

‘We have laws. Why should she get special treatment?,” he said.

“There are people in jail right now just for possessing marijuana. We cannot apply our laws based on a person’s age, skin color or occupation.

Bryn Spejcher, 33, was convicted of killing Chad O’Melia in a violent stabbing attack, but a judge ruled she faced no jail time because she had “no control over her actions.”

‘Would it have been the same if it had been a young man, perhaps from a different background? Absolutely not.

“That marijuana is sold all over Thousand Oaks and you don’t see hundreds of dead people everywhere.

“There’s clearly something unique about that girl’s chemistry that made this happen.”

Research has shown that one-time use of powerful cannabis (with a THC percentage above 10 percent) can at least double the risk of psychosis.

Sean O’Melia will continue to campaign for justice for Chad and has suggested that Ms Spejcher may be best placed in a psychiatric hospital.

Meanwhile, a major 2019 review published in The Lancet found that regularly using this strength of the drug increases the risk fivefold.

Ms Spejcher’s lawyers suggested the cannabis she inhaled was likely a potent strain called OG Kush, ordered a week earlier from an illegal dispensary by Mr O’Melia – which contained 31 per cent THC.

However, blood tests could not confirm this and experts estimated the strength at between 12 and 16 percent, according to court reports.

Mr O’Melia highlighted the “elitist” comments made by Ms Spejcher’s younger brother in his closing speech to the court, saying: “She is not the type of person who belongs in prison.”

‘What does that mean? I couldn’t believe it when he said that,” Mr O’Melia said.

“The type of person who goes to jail is someone who breaks the law. You can’t have a predetermined understanding of someone going to prison. What, she can’t go to jail because she’s educated, female and young?’

Mr O’Melia has since been inundated with kind messages from Chad’s friends, one of which read: ‘He was like everyone’s big brother.’

According to data from the U.S. Department of Justice, the lifetime risk of being sent to prison is highest for black men.

A black man living in the United States has a one in four chance of being incarcerated during his lifetime, compared to one in 23 for white men. About one percent of American women will go to prison at some point.

Research has shown that this discrepancy is due to a number of complex factors, including the inherent biases of police, juries and judges.

The judge believed the defense’s “pathetic victim blaming” argument, Mr O’Melia added.

“Their whole case was based on victim blaming – it was very difficult to sit through this,” he said.

Chad’s mother Michelle (right), who suffered from type 2 diabetes, died 18 months after Chad’s death when she stopped adhering to treatment due to ‘deep depression’

By this he is referring to Chad O’Melia’s frequent reference to regular use of cannabis; Testimonials from friends seen by DailyMail.com show he smoked the drug daily.

“When Chad was home, he was high,” said his roommate Vinicius De Oliveira.

Mr O’Melia claims his son’s marijuana habit was used to imply he had ‘enticed’ Ms Spejcher to smoke from his hookah.

“It’s absurd,” he said. You can try to say whatever you want, but the facts remain. All that happened is they both smoked marijuana.”

However, Mr O’Melia revealed that while he was aware of his son’s drug use, he was not the biggest fan of it.

“I hate the stuff, it stinks,” he said, calling cannabis a “demotivator.” “It changes people…he (Chad) didn’t smoke around me and in my house because he knew I didn’t like it.

“From what I understand, he usually smoked weed before going to bed because that would help him sleep.”

He acknowledges that cannabis played a significant role in his son’s death, adding that the widespread legalization of the drug is a “disaster.”

“After Chad’s death, I spoke with a doctor who worked in the specialized cannabis research unit at UCLA about what happened. They looked at me like I was talking about something taboo, but they all know it’s real.

Shane O’Melia was crying outside the Ventura courtroom Tuesday after the sentencing with no jail time and 100 hours of community service.

‘They said yes, it (psychosis) is really something that can happen. So why doesn’t everyone know about it? Chad certainly didn’t know anything about it…’

O’Melia’s lawyer, Audry Nafziger, urged the judge to give Ms Spejcher the full sentence for her crime: four years in prison and at least one year of community service.

Sean O’Melia also advocated this, but now suggests that a secure hospital could be a suitable place for the woman who murdered his son.

“She should have at least been admitted to a secure hospital,” he said.

“So people have had a chance to understand what’s unique about her, her body chemistry that allowed this event to happen.”

‘She has not accepted that she is the missing link here. If medical research could be done, at least something positive would come out of it.’

Mr O’Melia has also described the heartbreaking moment he broke the news of his son’s brutal death to his ex-wife, Chad’s mother, whom he divorced when Chad was five – and who died 18 months after Chad had been murdered.

When asked how he learned of the tragedy, he said in a broken voice, “I can’t relive that moment.” It’s too painful.’

“I told the sheriffs I would tell Michelle (Chad’s mother) myself. “I didn’t want her to find out about it the same way I did,” he said.

‘ I asked her to sit down and I looked her in the eyes and I said, “Michelle, Chad has been murdered.”

‘She looked at me and it broke her. It literally broke her. I could see it in her eyes.

‘After the funeral she became very depressed. When you lose a child, you think: can I ever be happy again?

‘There is a sense of guilt. She didn’t let anyone take a picture of her smiling. And this led to her decline.”

Michelle, who suffered from type 2 diabetes, ‘stopped taking care of herself’ and did not adhere to her treatment. A year and a half after Chad’s death, she suffered a serious heart failure and died shortly afterwards.

“I couldn’t believe it…I still think…she’s gone, and neither is my son.”

Perhaps the most moving moment of the sentencing hearing was a statement read by Chad O’Melia’s grandmother, Sean O’Melia’s mother, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland decades ago.

Holding back tears, she said, “I want her (Spejcher) to know… I forgive you. If I do not forgive, neither will the Lord forgive me.”

Remarkably, Mr. O’Melia, a practicing Christian, expresses a similar sentiment.

“What it comes down to is whether I’ll see you (Chad) on this side or the next,” he said.

‘And in order to see my son again, I have to forgive her. I have to forgive her. It’s just that it’s hard to live in that place right now.”