A California woman who fatally stabbed her boyfriend 108 times in a marijuana-induced psychosis claims her dead boyfriend tricked her into taking an abnormal amount of the drug before killing him, according to reports. and is appealing the conviction.
Bryn Speccher, 33, was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter in the May 2018 stabbing death of her boyfriend, Chad O’Melia, in their Thousand Oaks, California, apartment.
In January, a judge found that she was “very crazy about marijuana at the time she was smoking it,” and slapped her on the wrist for the gruesome crime (two years’ probation and 100 hours served). His sentencing (community service) made national headlines. You can’t control her actions. ”
In his first interview since the controversial verdict, Speicher said: told the Daily Mail He said he planned to appeal the conviction on the basis that her intoxication was “involuntary” and the result of O’Melia’s “fraud and subterfuge.”
Specher claimed O’Melia, 26, had a short temper and could become violent, adding that on two occasions O’Melia had “put his hands on me during intimate moments” without my consent. did.
“I felt intimidated by him,” she told the outlet. “If he felt something was personal to him, even though it wasn’t, he would have this short fuse.”
She was so afraid of his “tantrum outbursts and uncontrollable emotions” that she “feared the consequences” if she refused to smoke marijuana with him when he asked her on the night of his death. .
The former UCLA audiologist was 27 when she met Omelia (she never officially called her “boyfriend”) at the dog park.
Just two days before her death, Ms. Specher said she had made it clear that she was “not interested in any kind of romantic relationship.” Since she had just moved to the area, she decided to stay close to him.
Before meeting O’Melia, she says she had only used marijuana about 10 times in her life. O’Melia, on the other hand, said she smoked every day, even in the morning.
During the trial, O’Melia’s roommate, Vinicius de Oliveira, also known as “Vinny,” testified about O’Melia’s marijuana use.
“When I don’t have cannabis, I sometimes get angry that I don’t have something I like,” he told the court, according to video testimony reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Speicher recalled that on the night of the stabbing, she and O’Melia were hanging out on her balcony, laughing. Around 1 a.m., he said he hit a bong and got very high.
Spechcher asked him to make a hit.
“People often ask me why I did that,” she says. “When you go out for drinks or do some activity with your friends, it’s natural to ask if you can do it together. It was for social reasons. And of course I… regrets that decision.”
After the first hit, she said she didn’t feel high. O’Melia then induced her to take a “vigorous” dose of her high-potency marijuana, despite her protests.
“He said, ‘Hurry up’. Suck it up now…suck it up real quick, go, go,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Yes, I physically inhaled. So we both have some responsibility. But obviously there’s more attention on my part. [in the attack] The vs. Chad part,” Specher added.
Shortly after, she started coughing and felt dizzy. She lay down on the couch and she asked Omelia to watch over her, but Omelia laughed. Then she said she lost all sense of reality.
She got up and went into the kitchen, seemingly looking at a television screen, and saw “both hands” clutching several knives. First she saw Omeira’s dog, Aria.
“Then there was a brown dog in front of me, and the knife in my left hand stabbed the dog. [the “television screen”] I kept moving toward Chad, who was on the other side of the dining table,” she recalled.
“As my vision got closer to him, I saw the knife in my left hand stabbing him in the abdomen. And then it went black,” Spechter said.
She went on to stab him a total of 108 times.
Police found the woman covered in blood and crying hysterically next to her boyfriend’s body, still clutching the knife.
She then stabbed herself multiple times. O’Melia was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both prosecution and defense experts found that the marijuana bong given to Ms. Speicher sent the woman into a fatal state of insanity.
