Woman who became ‘acutely psychotic’ after smoking marijuana and then stabbed a man 108 times before trying to kill herself is convicted of involuntary manslaughter

Bryn Spejcher appears in two photos provided by law enforcement

Left: Bryn Spejcher appears in her booking photo; Right: a 2023 photo. (Ventura County Sheriff’s Office; Ventura County District Attorney’s Office)

A California woman who admittedly stabbed a man she briefly dated to death while in a drug-induced, dissociative fugue-like state is appealing her conviction that resulted in a sentence with no jail time.

Bryn Spejcher, 32, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in December 2023. In January, she was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service for killing Chad O’Melia, 26, at his Thousand Oaks condo in the Conejo Valley, roughly 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, at around 1 a.m. on Memorial Day 2018. That night, she also stabbed her dog, Arya, and tried to take her own life, but she was interrupted by the arrival of law enforcement.

During her trial, Spejcher did not contest that she killed O’Melia, who died from 108 cut and stab wounds inflicted by multiple knives. Rather, both the defense and the state agreed she was “acutely psychotic” during the bout of ultraviolence and therefore lacked several levels of intent or culpability. Although prosecutors originally charged Spejcher with murder in the second degree, they asked a judge to reduce the charge to involuntary manslaughter in September 2023 after their own forensic psychologist reached similar conclusions to defense experts.

Now, Spejcher has nothing to lose in terms of liberty and wants her record cleared of the conviction entirely, her lawyers say.

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