California woman Bryn Spejcher, 32, is CONVICTED of killing new boyfriend by stabbing him 100 times in ‘cannabis-induced psychosis’ after taking two hits from her lover’s bong

A woman who stabbed her new boyfriend to death more than 100 times in a “cannabis-induced psychosis” cried as she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Bryn Spejcher, 32, wept openly as the jury read her verdict on Friday, finding her guilty of the 2018 murder of her partner Chad O'Melia in California after less than four hours of deliberation.

She attacked O'Melia after taking two puffs from his marijuana 'bong' – a smoking device – and, according to an expert witness, went into a violent frenzy in a 'psychotic episode' brought on by the cannabis.

She testified at her trial last month that she started hearing voices shortly after taking two inhalations from the hookah, and stabbed O'Melia to death before also stabbing herself in the face and attacking her dog.

Spejcher's conviction normally carries a prison sentence of about four years, but she is back in court on Monday for hearings on four “enhancements” to her sentence, which could see the sentence increased.

The hearings will determine charges of use of a deadly weapon and great force, which a judge will decide after waiving her right to a jury trial on the additional charges.

She will be released on bond until those hearings and will leave the courtroom with her family after Ventura County Judge Anthony Sabo denied a prosecutor's request to have her taken into custody.

Her trial revolved around the influence marijuana could have had on her actions when she stabbed O'Melia, and according to testimony she only smoked pot five to 10 times in her life.

On the night of May 27, 2018, she and O'Melia, an accounting student, had asked his girlfriend to come over to his apartment that he shared with two roommates.

After watching TV, O'Melia asked her if she wanted to try marijuana with his hookah, the court heard last month.

O'Melia is said to have been a regular cannabis user; he smoked or used a hookah most days.

Spejcher, an inexperienced user who claimed to have never experienced a 'high' before, took a few puffs and told O'Melia that she felt nothing.

This prompted him to respond with a promise that he would find her “something more intense” according to local reports, and filled the bong with smoke before pulling his hand away and allowing Spejcher to inhale directly.

The complainant said she had an “immediate negative reaction” and that she went to the toilet in a panic, had blurred vision and felt like she was dying.

She told investigators that she then began hearing nightmarish voices in her head, telling her to start a fight, prompting Spejcher to grab three knives from a kitchen counter and throw them at O'Melia.

“She thought she was dead,” prosecutor Ms. Nofzinger said. “She had an out-of-body experience.

“She could see her own dead body, and she could hear voices, emergency room doctors performing CPR, her family, other voices, unknown voices, telling her that in order to bring herself back to life, she had to kill Chad O.” Melia should kill. '

Spejcher stabbed him throughout his body, leaving fatal wounds to his heart, lungs and vital arteries in his neck.

Despite describing herself as a “dog lover” and holding photos of her dog during the trial, Spejcher then stabbed her dog. It is not clear whether the dog survived the attack.

Spejcher also used a 20cm bread knife to stab herself in the terrifying episode, plunging the knife into her own face and neck as she crouched near O'Melia's body.

Officers arrived on the scene and were only able to get her to drop the knife by hitting her nine times with his retractable steel bat, the VC Star reported.

Although both Spejcher's defense and the prosecution agreed that the stabbing was the result of marijuana intoxication, the prosecution portrayed her as a partygoer hoping to get high, while her defense claimed she was pressured to drug and that this was involuntary.

Under California law, a person is considered responsible for their actions when influenced by drugs or alcohol, unless their intoxication was involuntary.

The 32-year-old, a former audiologist, was initially charged with manslaughter, but the charge was reduced to involuntary manslaughter following the testimony of an expert witness who claimed the crimes were the result of a “cannabis-induced psychosis.”

While some argued that her actions were completely out of character, and one expert witness argued that this suggests the marijuana she inhaled was much stronger than other forms, O'Melia's father disagreed.

After Spejcher's lawyer argued that she didn't want to smoke that night, but was pressured by O'Melia, his father Sean said she knew what she was doing and “viciously and prematurely ended” his son's life.

After her conviction, Sean O'Melia said he was grateful for the prosecutor's hard work but wouldn't call the verdict “justice.”

“I just want my son back, and that's not going to happen,” he told reporters outside the courtroom on Friday.

'In the end, there are only people here who have suffered losses. There's no winning here,” O'Melia said.

“At the same time, I think the first impact on me and my family was the loss of our son, and the next thing that happened was we had to go through listening to… all the derogatory comments about someone we had just lost.”

The grieving father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Spejcher in 2020, which has been stayed until her criminal proceedings are completed.

This case mirrors those of previous murders where the suspect is known to have used high-potency cannabis.

In 2014, a 50-year-old man pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison after shooting his wife in the head at the couple's home in Denver, Colorado.

Richard Kirk was initially charged with first-degree murder – premeditated or intentional – but this was dropped after the defense argued that marijuana, which Kirk used for back pain, had severely impaired his judgment.

They had also argued that he suffered from “involuntary intoxication” because he was unaware that 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 that Adam Kehl, then 31, was a heavy cannabis user but was unaware that the drug could cause psychotic behaviour.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which was filed after a psychiatrist said he was suffering from cannabis-induced intoxication.

At the 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 didn't know marijuana use could cause something like that. If I had known, I would never have started it.'