A California woman who stabbed a man she had briefly dated more than 100 times while in a drug-induced dissociative state is appealing her conviction, despite not receiving a prison sentence.
Bryn Spejcher, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter in December 2023 for the murder of Chad O’Melia, 26. She was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service the following month.
In court, Spejcher did not dispute allegations that she stabbed O’Melia 108 times with multiple knives while she was high on cannabis.
Prosecutors originally charged her with second-degree murder, but that charge was reduced when it was determined that Spejcher had been “severely psychotic” during the wave of violence.
Despite spending no time behind bars, DailyMail.com can reveal that Spejcher’s lawyers have filed an appeal in his case, arguing that his intoxication was “involuntary” and the result of O’s “fraud and deception.” Melia.
If they manage to appeal the guilty verdict, the considerably light sentence imposed on the 32-year-old could be reduced even further.
Lawyers for Bryn Spejcher, 32, filed a notice of appeal in her case, which saw her convicted of manslaughter in December 2023.
Spejcher was sentenced to two years’ probation and 100 hours of community service after fatally stabbing 26-year-old Chad O’Melia while high on cannabis.
Spejcher did not deny attacking O’Melia, but claimed she was “forced” to smoke the weed which caused her to hear voices urging her to kill him.
Spejcher attacked O’Melia in his Thousand Oaks apartment after taking a few hits from his bong in May 2018 and suffering a psychotic episode.
“She thought she was dead,” a prosecutor explained during the trial. ‘She had an out-of-body experience.
‘He could see his own body and he could hear voices, emergency room doctors doing CPR, his family, other voices, unknown voices, telling him that to come back to life he would have to kill Chad O’Melia.’
Spejcher retrieved three kitchen knives and stabbed the 26-year-old throughout his body, piercing his heart, lungs and vital arteries in his neck.
Despite characterizing herself as a “dog lover,” Spejcher then stabbed her dog and repeatedly plunged an eight-inch bread knife into her face and neck while crouched near O’Melia’s body.
She only stopped when the police arrived and hit her with a baton.
While both the defense and the prosecution agreed that the violence was the result of intoxication, the prosecution described Spejcher as a party animal looking to get high, while her defense argued that she was forced to take the drug.
Under California law, a person is held responsible for his or her actions while under the influence of alcohol, unless his or her intoxication was involuntary.
Spejcher stabbed the 26-year-old 108 times in the heart, lungs and neck before attacking her dog and herself.
Prosecutors described her as a party girl looking to get high, but Spejcher alleged she felt “intimidated” by O’Melia and “feared the consequences” of refusing to use her pipe.
O’Melia’s father, Sean, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the California woman in 2020, but it was put on hold until the trial concluded.
Spejcher told DailyMail.com that their relationship had ‘no label’, despite being characterized in the press as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Speaking for the first time since her sentencing, Spejcher told DailyMail.com that O’Melia had “pressured” her into smoking cannabis.
“I felt intimidated by him,” the 34-year-old said. “If something seemed personal to him, even if he really wasn’t, he would have this short fuse.”
In fact, Spejcher said, her “outbursts of anger and uncontrollable emotions” were so extreme that she “feared the consequences” of refusing to use her bong on the night of her death.
She explained how O’Melia “prepared” marijuana in the device before claiming he forced her to inhale it.
“He said, ‘Hurry up. Inhale now…Do it real quick, go, go, go,” he reminded.
‘Yes, I physically inhaled it. So we are both responsible.”
During the trial, Spejcher claimed that he had never experienced “euphoria” before.
When she took a few puffs and told O’Melia she didn’t feel anything, he allegedly said, “Oh, well, let’s make this really intense for you.”
An expert witness said the violent attack suggested the marijuana he smoked was much stronger than other varieties, but O’Melia’s father, Sean, disagreed.
He claimed that Spejcher had not been coerced; rather, she knew what she was doing and “brutally and prematurely” ended the life of her son.
Sean O’Melia filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Spejcher in 2020, which was put on hold until the criminal proceedings concluded.
When the couple met at a dog park in early 2018, Spejcher claimed they “got along very well.”
He had recently moved to the area to take a new position in the audiology department at the University of California, Los Angeles.
‘We just laugh at all kinds of things and we’re both sarcastic. “I have brothers and a lot of male friends, so I know how to talk and relate to a guy,” he explained.
Spejcher also questioned characterizations of their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.
“I had no label,” he said, admitting that their connection was initially romantic.
The California woman insisted she had used cannabis “less than 10 times” in her life, while O’Melia was a daily user.
In court documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, O’Melia’s roommate Vinicius De Oliveira testified: “If Chad was home, he was high.”
De Oliveira also recalled how, two months before his death, O’Melia had persuaded him to take drugs for the first time, using the same pipe he had offered to Spejcher.
The weed made him feel like he was “dying,” De Oliveira said, adding, “My heart was beating very fast.” The wall and the faces moved.
He allegedly begged O’Melia and another friend to take him to a hospital, but they simply laughed.