Images shared on social media show Bryn Spejcher (left) around the time she received her doctorate in audiology
The ex-boyfriend and childhood friends of a woman who stabbed her new lover to death in a pot-induced frenzy have revealed she was against the drug in high school and only smoked it for the first time in her 20s.
Bryn Spejcher, 33, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month and sentenced to just 100 hours of community service for stabbing Chad O’Melia more than 100 times before turning the knife on her dog and her own face and neck.
The two had only been dating for a month when they went back to his apartment in Thousand Oaks, California, and smoked marijuana from a bong.
Yesterday, Ventura County Judge David Worley shocked the courtroom by sentencing her to no jail time at all after ruling that she experienced ‘a psychotic break with reality’ caused by the cannabis and ‘had no control over her actions’.
Spejcher’s high school friends have told DailyMail.com that she actively avoided the drug as a teenager after splitting from a friendship group of regular users.
And according to Kevin Rasmussen, whom she dated from 2014 to 2017, the pair smoked their very first joint during a camping trip in Washington state, when Spejcher was 25 and agreed that “weed wasn’t for us.”
Chad O’Melia, a trainee accountant, was stabbed 108 times by Spejcher after taking two rips from a hookah
Police were called to the victim’s apartment over Memorial Day weekend 2018, where they discovered Spejcher had fatally stabbed O’Melia 108 times.
She had also attacked and seriously injured her dog, and when officers arrived she slashed her face and neck with the knife. She only stopped when authorities beat her repeatedly with a bat.
She was arrested on suspicion of murder and charged with that crime.
But in an extraordinary turn of events last year, the prosecution’s medical expert agreed with the defense: that Spejcher’s actions were the result of cannabis-induced psychosis and that she was not feigning her behavior that day.
Shortly after taking a second hit from the victim’s bong, Spejcher began “hearing and seeing things that weren’t there” and believing that she was dead, and that she had to stab O’Melia to bring herself back to life to wake up, the spokesperson said. the district attorney’s office.
The prosecutor portrayed Spejcher as a party girl who just wanted to get high the night she killed O’Melia.
But Spejcher’s oldest friend and mother described her as “naïve” and “sheltered” – citing her “sheltered” life, where she avoided difficult situations because of the hearing impairment she suffered from birth.
Spejcher’s friends have also claimed that she has never shown any interest in marijuana, and that she would actually rather avoid it.
Amy Carewhicz, now 33, met Spejcher in 2007 when they played high school sports together.
Friends and family said Bryn was never interested in drugs and didn’t try pot until she was 20
“She played basketball and I played softball,” said Zorgwhicz. “And we bonded because we both liked things that girls didn’t like, like camping and hiking.”
When the couple was in high school, they began to notice a distinct division in friendship groups.
“It seemed like some people were smoking weed and some weren’t.
“And there was kind of a split in our friendship group between those who were interested in it and those who weren’t interested in it. Both Bryn and I were on the side of ‘don’t do it.’
Spejcher didn’t try marijuana until she was 25, according to her ex-boyfriend Kevin Rasmussen, whom she dated for three years in her early 20s.
The couple, who met in their shared hometown of Chicago, decided to smoke in 2015 while hiking in Washington state.
Bryn Spejcher, when she first dreamed of becoming an audiologist as a young girl
‘She didn’t necessarily want to just be at a house party and try it,” Rasmussen, a Chicago personal trainer and former Marine, told the Every Brain Matters podcast.
“I knew we were going camping, I thought it would be a fun place to try it for the first time.”
“So we were actually camping next to a waterfall, you know, kind of cool to smoke.
“But Bryn, I think, only got one hit. I took one first and then another – just because I smoked before.
“Bryn was like, hey, I don’t know, I’m not sure if I’m high. I looked at the bag of chips she had in her hand, a family size bag of chips, and the whole thing was almost gone. So I’m pointing out that you almost finished that entire bag of chips yourself. And we both sat there for a second and then just started laughing. That was so funny.’
The experience was “exactly what we expected,” Rasmussen said. But they agreed; “No, it’s not really for us.”
Rasmussen and Spejcher broke up when she moved to California in November 2017, but have kept in touch since then.
He described Spejcher as a “very carefree, charismatic and kind person.”
“Every time we met people and were out and about, we became instant friends because she was so engaging and so easy to talk to.”
Speaking about the moment he learned of the tragic events of May 28, 2018, he said: “I remember it being very hard to read and just being in shock and disbelief. But immediately, I thought to myself, something else happened. This is not the whole story.’
Police were called to the victim’s apartment over Memorial Day weekend 2018, where they discovered Spejcher had fatally stabbed O’Melia 108 times
But several of O’Melia’s relatives accused Spejcher of showing “no remorse” for her actions during the trial.
O’Melia’s father, Sean, said he initially planned to forgive Spejcher because “in order to heal, I have to forgive.”
However, he admitted that the family feuds in recent years have “taken away my mind’s ability to live in forgiveness.”
He followed this statement by pointing his index finger directly at Spejcher, who was sitting to his left, and declaring, “She killed my son.” That’s a fact.’
Further contempt for her came from Chad O’Melia’s uncle, who stated, “There has to be a consequence to taking a life.”
He accused Spejcher of engaging in “victim blaming” for her previous statements suggesting Chad had “pressured” her to smoke from his bong that contained the potent marijuana that caused the episode.
Several of O’Melia’s relatives accused Spejcher of showing “no remorse” for her actions during the trial.
Lu Madison, a lifelong family friend, said, “Not once has she acknowledged her actions… she only cares about herself. What about Chad?
“The defendant’s use of marijuana was her decision. This is a serious crime and must be punished as such.”
On the night in question, Spejcher also shot her beloved dog and herself multiple times in the neck and face (her injuries can be seen above)
“This case is an important example of how marijuana is not just a harmless drug,” Dr. Kris Mohandie, a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness in the trial, told DailyMail.com.
‘Nowadays it’s so powerful that you can induce a psychotic reaction with one use – and I see cases like this increasing.’
‘Because it is legal, there is the illusion that it is safe. The truth is that it is a mind altering drug. And with any mind-altering drug there will always be an element of roulette.
“I’m sure I’ll see more and more cases like (Bryn Spejcher’s). More people than ever are using it.
“And that includes a lot of people who would never have touched it, but because it’s legal, the message is that it won’t hurt you. Well, that’s possible.’
Spejcher’s 90-year-old grandmother Patricia tearfully spoke in court about her granddaughter’s “deep remorse” for her actions on the night of Chad’s death.
Spejcher’s grandmother, or “Gram” as she calls her, told the court, “I live with Bryn in Illinois…I know what I see, what I hear.”
‘I hear her crying at night. We have prayed forever for the healing of their family. Bryn said to me, “Grandma, I wasn’t in that room that night. I don’t know where I was…”
Spejcher, the last to speak, tearfully apologized to Sean O’Melia. “I am so sorry for my actions,” she said. “I don’t expect your forgiveness. My actions tore your family apart. I have listened to accusations that I am unrepentant. I also do that.
‘The hole in your life has not escaped my attention. I am really sorry.’