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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog * 1
    #28542658 - 11/14/23 01:10 PM (2 months, 12 days ago)

Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog
November 14, 2023 - The Messenger

Bryn Spejcher, 32, had her charges downgraded from murder to involuntary manslaughter after a psychiatrist backed her defense

An "animal lover" who is accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend 108 times then killing her dog has had her charges reduced from murder to involuntary manslaughter after a psychiatrist testified that "cannabis-induced psychosis" caused her to kill.

Bryn Spejcher, 32, clutched a photo of herself with her pup, a husky, during jury selection last week in Ventura County.

The audiologist allegedly smoked marijuana from a bong before plunging three knives — including an 8-inch serrated bread knife — into her boyfriend Chad O'Melia 108 times, according to the Ventura County Star.

The purportedly weed-spurred killing occurred inside O'Melia's condominium in Thousand Oaks, and the victim had stab wounds to nearly every part of his body, according to investigators.

Prosecutors say she then killed her dog with one of the knives before stabbing herself.

Responding police said she continued stabbing herself even as an officer used his stun gun on, trying to stop her. She only dropped the knife after another officer hit her nine times with his retractable steel baton.

Surgeons managed to save her life.

Her defense team contends that Spejcher was in the midst of a marijuana-induced psychosis the night she killed O'Melia and her pooch.

Recreational pot use was legalized in California after voters approved a 2016 ballot measure. For two decades before that, it was available for medical use with a doctor's note.

Spejcher confessed to police and was charged with murder. But last month, Judge David Worley approved a motion from prosecutors, seeking to have the charge reduced to involuntary manslaughter, reports the Thousand Oaks Acorn.

Her maximum possible sentence was reduced from 25 years to just four.

The decision followed the district attorney's receipt of Spejcher's psychological evaluations. Experts have suggested in court filings Spejcher's decision to harm her dog had to have resulted from a psychotic episode, as she's an "animal lover."

O'Melia's family staunchly opposed the move, and continues to insist Spejcher be charged with murder.

O'Melia and Spejcher had met at a dog park and were only dating a few weeks at the time of his killing. She was 27 and he was 26.

Spejcher allegedly told police that, after smoking the pot, she'd had an out-of-body experience, and thought she was dead. Voices then started telling her to save herself, she needed to kill O'Melia, according to police.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: veggie] * 2
    #28560939 - 11/29/23 03:19 PM (1 month, 28 days ago)

Video interview with father of Chad O'Melia ...

Woman who blamed cannabis for stabbing is ‘not the victim,’ dad says
November 28, 2023 - NewsNation

  • Bryn Spejcher is on trial for 2018 killing; she blames marijuana
  • Her charge was downgraded to involuntary manslaughter
  • Victim's father: Spejcher had an opportunity to show remorse




Sean O’Melia, the father of Chad O’Melia — who is the former boyfriend of Bryn Spejcher — joined NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield exclusively Tuesday to give his reaction to Spejcher’s testimony.

Bryn Spejcher is the California woman who claims cannabis-induced psychosis made her stab Chad more than 100 times in 2018.

She took the stand Tuesday and told the jury that voices were telling her that the only way to bring herself back to life was to kill her boyfriend.

The testimony provided Spejcher with an opportunity to show the jury that she had “some form of remorse for her actions,” Sean O’Melia said. Instead, “It was really clear that everything was about her. I can’t count how many times I heard her say ‘Me.’ I realize that this is not good for her or her family, either. But there is a victim here, and she is not the victim.”

Spejcher faces an involuntary manslaughter charge, which was downgraded in September from a second degree murder charge.

The defense rested Tuesday after Spejcher took the stand. The trial will resume Wednesday with closing arguments, and jury deliberations are likely before the end of the week or early next week.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: GenesisCorrupted] * 1
    #28560963 - 11/29/23 03:40 PM (1 month, 28 days ago)

Quote:

GenesisCorrupted said:

She’s going to jail for a long time.



She should, but she won't. The maximum possible sentence was reduced from 25 years to four years with the reduction in charges from murder to involuntary manslaughter.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: veggie]
    #28563965 - 12/01/23 03:53 PM (1 month, 26 days ago)

* UPDATE: Guilty verdict in Bryn Spejcher cannabis-induced killing trial ...

Conflicting portraits emerge as cannabis killing case heads to jury
December 1, 2023 - vcstar.com

Attorneys in Bryn Spejcher’s manslaughter trial gave their closing arguments Thursday, drawing two very different portraits of the woman who killed Chad O'Melia in 2018. The prosecution called her a callous, narcissistic party girl who just wanted to get high that night, while the defense described her as “a very responsible young woman” who had no idea smoking pot could trigger violent psychosis.

Spejcher, 32, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of O’Melia, a man she’d been dating for a few weeks. She stabbed him to death at his Thousand Oaks condominium with kitchen knives while in the throes of what both the defense and prosecution agree was a cannabis-induced psychotic episode.

She also stabbed herself in the neck repeatedly and would likely have died had police not arrived just in time to disarm her and stanch the bleeding, according to testimony during the trial.

With no disagreement about whether she killed O’Melia or whether her psychosis was real, Spejcher’s trial revolved around the question of whether her cannabis intoxication was “voluntary.” Under California criminal law, people are responsible for their actions when impaired by alcohol or drugs unless their intoxication was involuntary.

According to the jury instructions in Spejcher’s trial, “involuntary intoxication” could mean she took the drug unknowingly, took it due to “force, duress, fraud or trickery” or took it without knowing it could produce such intoxicating effects.

Defense: Couldn't have foreseen pot's effects

Robert Schwartz, Spejcher’s defense attorney, argued to jurors Thursday that multiple legal definitions of “involuntary intoxication” apply in this case. He said O’Melia pressured Spejcher to take a second, oversize bong hit and she did it because she felt intimidated by him, though he didn’t threaten her or use physical force.

Schwartz also said Spejcher couldn’t have known the weed would cause a psychotic episode, because she had only consumed cannabis a handful of times and had only gotten mildly high once. And he said “trickery” applies as well, because she had no idea what exactly was in O’Melia’s bong when he put it in front of her face, full of smoke.

There were no drugs other than marijuana found in O’Melia’s condo. Tests from 2018 of the marijuana that was found, both in a container in his bedroom and as burned residue in the bong, were not conclusive as to its concentration of THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis.

Spejcher’s attorneys argued the cannabis she smoked was probably the same stuff that O’Melia had ordered from an unlicensed medical marijuana delivery service about a week earlier: a strain called OG Kush with a THC content of 31.8%. That’s a relatively high level of THC, and on its website, the now-defunct delivery service warned potential buyers the strain was meant for “high tolerance patients only.”

Spejcher’s defense team also called expert witnesses who testified that a concentrated form of cannabis could have been added to that weed, making it even stronger.

“Who knew the contents of the bong? Bryn didn’t know. Chad knew,” Schwartz told the jury. “Who purchased the marijuana? Who loaded the marijuana? Who prepared the marijuana? It was Chad. … She had no reaction at all to the first bong hit, so why in the world would she expect that when he pressured her to take another, that anything different would happen?”

Schwartz also reminded the jury of the testimony of one of O’Melia’s roommates, Vini de Oliveira, on the first day of the trial three weeks earlier. De Oliveira had never smoked pot before until one night in 2018 when he decided to try it with O’Melia and another friend. He smoked from O’Melia’s bong and soon started to hallucinate and panic. He felt his heart racing, thought he was dying and wanted his friends to take him to the hospital.

O’Melia and his friend convinced de Oliveira to wait it out and try to sleep it off instead. He felt better after a nap, but later told police he still felt high when he went to work the following afternoon.

“No one is suggesting that Chad wanted Bryn to have a psychotic reaction,” Schwartz said in his closing argument. “But Chad had some obligation to tell Bryn. Chad knew she was an inexperienced or naïve user, just like Vini was, and he knew the horrible reaction that Vini had. … He knew what happened to Vini and he didn’t tell her about it.”

Prosecutor: 'She's trying to save her own skin'

In her closing argument, prosecutor Audry Nafziger called Spejcher’s contention that she didn’t like marijuana and didn’t want to get high that night “a false narrative.”

Nafziger pointed to texts between Spejcher and her friends from the months leading up to O’Melia’s death, which included multiple texts from Spejcher about being drunk and once missing a morning of work due to a hangover. There were also texts from Spejcher about consuming edible forms of cannabis.

“This is a young woman who was living a lifestyle of getting drunk, passing out, missing work, and her decision to become intoxicated on May 28 resulted in the vicious and violent death of Chad O’Melia,” Nafziger said.

Nafziger told the jury there is no evidence O’Melia put anything other than “regular old marijuana” in the bong he prepared for Spejcher. She also said it’s implausible that O’Melia “made her” inhale from the bong, because Spejcher is a strong, assertive, professional woman — she holds a doctoral degree and worked as an audiologist — and was “the boss” in her relationship with O’Melia.

“She was not afraid of Chad O’Melia,” Spejcher said. “Her newfound fear is fabricated. She’s trying to save her own skin. … Anyone can point the finger at someone else and say, ‘He made me do it.’ She’s very good at blaming other people for her problems.”

Nafziger also said Spejcher didn’t show any remorse when she testified in her own defense on Tuesday.

“What we saw on the witness stand was narcissism on full display,” Nafziger said. “It was the ‘me, me, me’ show. … She had tears for herself, but none for Chad. No remorse, no compassion.”

Schwartz called Nafziger’s description of Spejcher “character assassination” and an attempt to “dirty up” the defendant.

“The person who’s been depicted to you by the prosecution would be unrecognizable to anyone who knows her well,” Schwartz told the jury, pointing to the character witnesses who described Spejcher as always honest and nonviolent as well as her work helping people who have hearing loss, as Spejcher herself does.

Spejcher’s texts about going out drinking with her friends are “a distraction and have no relevancy to this case whatsoever,” Schwartz said.

“She was a young woman in her 20s. What’s wrong with her going out with her friends, as long as she doesn’t drive when she’s been drinking?” he said.

The jury began its deliberations on Friday morning. If Spejcher is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, she is likely to face a prison sentence of up to four years.


* Jurors returned a guilty verdict in the case Friday afternoon. This story will be updated.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: lifeiswhatyoumake] * 2
    #28564058 - 12/01/23 05:16 PM (1 month, 26 days ago)

Since the jury came back with a guilty verdict so quickly, I don't think they bought any of the defense's BS. Soon we'll find out what the sentence is. Even if she gets the maximum four years, she is getting off way too easy. It's possible she could get less, but I doubt that.

But even if someone hears voices telling them to kill, that doesn't mean they have to listen to them. She had a choice, and chose to kill.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: lifeiswhatyoumake]
    #28564267 - 12/01/23 07:20 PM (1 month, 26 days ago)

Update ...

Bryn Spejcher found guilty in cannabis-induced killing of man she dated
December 1, 2023 - vcstar.com

After deliberating for less than four hours Friday, a jury found Bryn Spejcher guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 killing of Chad O’Melia of Thousand Oaks.

When the verdict was read, Spejcher dropped her head to the table and cried quietly. She later broke out in loud sobs after her lawyers asked the jurors to confirm their unanimous verdict, one by one. The panel had heard evidence and arguments since Nov. 9.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Anthony Sabo denied a motion by prosecutors to have Spejcher remanded into custody. She left the courtroom with her lawyers and her family.

Spejcher, 32, will be back in court Monday for a separate hearing on four enhancements to the manslaughter conviction, including allegations that she used a deadly weapon and that her crime involved great violence. She will be free on bail until that hearing is complete.

She waived her right to a jury trial on the enhancements, so that portion of the case will be decided by Judge David Worley, who presided over Spejcher’s jury trial. Worley was unavailable Friday so Sabo filled in for the verdict.

Involuntary manslaughter typically carries a sentence of up to about four years in state prison, though the enhancements could increase Spejcher’s sentence.

On the night she killed O’Melia, stabbing both him and herself repeatedly with kitchen knives, Spejcher was in what both defense and prosecution experts agreed was a severe psychotic episode triggered by marijuana she smoked from O’Melia’s bong. Prosecutors reduced the charge against her from murder to manslaughter due to those expert opinions about her mental state.

O’Melia was 26 when he was killed. He was from Santa Clarita and had graduated from Chico State University. He lived in a condo in Thousand Oaks with two roommates and his dog and was working at an accounting firm and studying to be a certified public accountant.

He met Spejcher at a dog park in the spring of 2018. They had been dating for a few weeks when she came over on the night of May 27. She stabbed him to death a little after midnight.

Sean O’Melia, Chad O’Melia’s father, attended the entire jury trail and many pretrial hearings. He said he was grateful for the hard work that prosecutors and police put in but wouldn't call the outcome “justice.”

“I just want my son back, and that’s not going to happen,” he said outside the courtroom after the verdict was delivered.

Spejcher’s defense revolved around the idea that she was “involuntarily intoxicated,” and she claimed O’Melia had pressured and intimidated her into taking the last bong hit. The jurors did not agree.

“Ultimately, there are only people that have taken a loss here. There’s no winning here,” Sean O’Melia said. “At the same time, I think the first impact to me and my family was the loss of our son, and the next thing that occurred was what we had to go through listening to … all the derogatory remarks about somebody that we had just lost.”

Sean O'Melia filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Spejcher in 2020. It has been on hold until the end of her criminal case.

Two pictures of Bryn Spejcher

The jury's swift verdict arrived on the first day of its deliberations. The day before, jurors heard closing arguments from the prosecutor and from Spejcher’s attorney.

The prosecution portrayed Spejcher as a callous, narcissistic party girl who just wanted to get high the night she killed O’Melia, while the defense described her as “a very responsible young woman” who had no idea smoking pot could trigger violent psychosis.

With no disagreement about whether she killed O’Melia or whether her psychosis was real, the trial revolved around the question of whether her cannabis intoxication was voluntary.

Under California criminal law, people are responsible for their actions when impaired by alcohol or drugs unless their intoxication was involuntary. According to the jury instructions in Spejcher’s trial, “involuntary intoxication” could mean she took the drug unknowingly, took it due to “force, duress, fraud or trickery" or took it without knowing it could produce such intoxicating effects.

Robert Schwartz, Spejcher’s defense attorney, argued to the jury Thursday that multiple legal definitions of “involuntary intoxication” applied in this case. He said O’Melia pressured Spejcher to take a second, oversized bong hit and she did it because she felt intimidated by him, though O'Melia didn’t threaten her or use physical force.

Schwartz also said Spejcher couldn’t have known the weed would cause a psychotic episode because she had only consumed cannabis a handful of times in her life and had only gotten mildly high once. And he said “trickery” applied as well because she had no idea what exactly was in O’Melia’s bong when he put in front of her face, full of smoke.

There were no drugs other than marijuana found in O’Melia’s condo. Tests from 2018 of the marijuana that was found, both in a container in his bedroom and as burned residue in the bong, were not conclusive as to its concentration of THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis.

Spejcher’s attorneys argued the cannabis she smoked was probably the same stuff O’Melia had ordered from an unlicensed medical marijuana delivery service about a week earlier: a strain called OG Kush with a THC content of 31.8%. That’s a relatively high level of THC, and on its website, the now-defunct delivery service warned potential buyers that strain was meant for “high tolerance patients only.” Spejcher’s defense team also called expert witnesses who testified that a concentrated form of cannabis could have been added to that weed, making it even stronger.

“Who knew the contents of the bong? Bryn didn’t know. Chad knew,” Schwartz told the jury. “Who purchased the marijuana? Who loaded the marijuana? Who prepared the marijuana? It was Chad. … She had no reaction at all to the first bong hit, so why in the world would she expect that when he pressured her to take another, that anything different would happen?”

In her closing argument, prosecutor Audry Nafziger called Spejcher’s contention that she didn’t like marijuana and didn’t want to get high that night “a false narrative.” Nafziger pointed to texts between Spejcher and her friends from the months leading up to O’Melia’s death, which included multiple texts from Spejcher about being drunk and once missing a morning of work due to a hangover. There were also texts from Spejcher about consuming edible forms of cannabis.

“This is a young woman who was living a lifestyle of getting drunk, passing out, missing work, and her decision to become intoxicated on May 28 resulted in the vicious and violent death of Chad O’Melia,” Nafziger said.

Nafziger told the jury there is no evidence O’Melia put anything other than “regular old marijuana” in the bong he prepared for Spejcher. She also said it’s implausible that O’Melia “made her” inhale from the bong, because Spejcher is a strong, assertive, professional woman — she holds a doctoral degree and worked as an audiologist — and was “the boss” in her relationship with O’Melia.

“She was not afraid of Chad O’Melia,” Spejcher said. “Her newfound fear is fabricated. She’s trying to save her own skin. … Anyone can point the finger at someone else and say, ‘He made me do it.’ She’s very good at blaming other people for her problems.”

Nafziger also said Spejcher didn’t show any remorse when she testified in her own defense on Tuesday.

“What we saw on the witness stand was narcissism on full display,” Nafziger said. “It was the ‘me, me, me’ show. … She had tears for herself, but none for Chad, no remorse, no compassion.”

Schwartz called Nafziger’s description of Spejcher “character assassination” and an attempt to “dirty up” the defendant. Character witnesses described her as honest and nonviolent, and she devoted her career to helping people who have hearing loss, as Spejcher herself does.

“The person who’s been depicted to you by the prosecution would be unrecognizable to anyone who knows her well,” Schwartz told the jury.


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: veggie]
    #28569214 - 12/05/23 03:17 AM (1 month, 22 days ago)

'Psychotic' killer remains free, gets to spend Xmas and New Year's with family. Sentencing set for January 23rd ...

Thousand Oaks Woman Convicted In Cannabis Killing Will Remain Free Pending Sentencing
December 4, 2023 - KVTA

Updated--A Thousand Oaks woman will remain free pending sentencing over the objection of prosecutors after the judge found that two of the five special allegations and enhancements against her were not true.

A jury Friday convicted 32-year-old Bryn Spejcher of Thousand Oaks of involuntary manslaughter in the cannabis-induced killing of 26-year-old Chad O'Melia on Memorial Day 2018.

Several special allegations and enhancements were not decided by the jury and were decided Monday by the judge in what's known as a "court trial" where the judge acts as the jury.

The judge found the special allegations of use of a deadly weapon and that the crime was a serious felony were not true.

The judge however found true that it involved great violence and that the defendant engaged in violent conduct, and was armed with and used a weapon.

His decisions will determine where and for how long she might be locked up.

The judge set sentencing for January 23rd and again rejected a request by the prosecution that she be jailed now pending sentencing.

She remains free on bail.

Both sides in this case agreed that she acted under the influence of a cannabis-induced psychosis and so the killing was involuntary manslaughter.

But the prosecution maintained that even though the marijuana made her unaware of what she was doing, she bears some responsibility for having used it in the first place.


Video below from NewsNation ...


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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
Re: Woman Claims ‘Cannabis-Induced Psychosis’ Made Her Stab Boyfriend 108 Times Then Kill Her Dog [Re: veggie] * 1
    #28632250 - 01/23/24 03:52 PM (4 days, 7 hours ago)

Update. A complete travesty of justice ...

No prison time for Bryn Spejcher, 100 hours community service and two years probation for killing her boyfriend
January 23, 2024 - VC Star

After a jury found her guilty in December of involuntary manslaughter in a killing triggered by cannabis psychosis, Bryn Spejcher was sentenced Tuesday to two years probation and no prison time.

The sentence drew sobs of relief from Spejcher and her loved ones while family members of the victim, 26-year-old Chad Melia of Thousand Oaks, exclaimed in shock and anger. “Oh my God!” they said.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley said his decision was based on the lack of culpability, asserting the “senseless” killing early the morning of May 28, 2018, was propelled by the psychotic episode that experts for the prosecution and defense attributed to the bong hits of marijuana Spejcher and O’Melia smoked.

“From that point forward, she had no control over her actions,” Worley said before announcing probation and a suspended prison sentence of four years. The incarceration could be imposed if Spejcher, who turns 33 on Thursday and lived in Thousand Oaks at the time of the crime, violates probation. The sentence also includes 100 hours of community service focused on raising awareness about the effects of marijuana-induced psychosis.

Moments after the verdict, the victim’s father, Sean O’Melia, accused Worley of bias and said the ruling set a dangerous precedent.

“He just gave everyone in the state of California who smokes marijuana a license to kill someone,” he said.

Spejcher’s father, Mike Spejcher, declined comment. Her lawyer, Bob Schwartz, said he was happy for the family.

“Judge Worley did the right and courageous thing,” Schwartz said.

Spejcher and O’Melia initially met at a dog park and had been dating for just weeks before they smoked marijuana together at his apartment in Thousand Oaks late the night of May 27, 2018. Testimony showed that under the influence of the psychotic episode, she stabbed O’Melia more than 100 times with different knives, also stabbing herself.

When law enforcement arrived shortly after midnight, O’Melia was covered in a pool of blood. Spejcher was screaming hysterically and holding a knife she plunged into her neck. Law enforcement officers used a Taser and several baton blows to disarm her and then called for paramedics in actions her family said saved her life.

Spejcher’s lawyers said during the trial that she was “involuntarily intoxicated,” and claimed O’Melia had pressured and intimidated her into taking the last bong hit. Under California criminal law, people are responsible for their actions when impaired by alcohol or drugs unless their intoxication was involuntary.

The jurors rejected the defense’s argument. They deliberated for less than four hours before finding her guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Dec. 1.

During the trial, the prosecution portrayed Spejcher as a callous, narcissistic party girl who just wanted to get high the night she killed O’Melia. At the sentencing hearing, her parents and others painted a dramatically different picture, focusing on her hearing impairment and her work before the crime as a licensed audiologist.

“She has worked her whole life helping others,” her father, Mike Spejcher, said.

Bryn Spejcher also spoke during the sentencing, noting she had been accused repeatedly of showing no remorse. Sobbing, she repeatedly apologized to Sean O’Melia.

“My actions have ripped your family apart,” she said. “I am broken and aching inside. I hurt that you never see Chad again.”

The hearing was held in a courtroom so crowded spectators sat in the jury box and others stayed in the hallway, tuning into a livestreamed broadcast. The hearing was punctuated by drama too with Sean O’Melia jumping to his feet to interrupt Spejcher’s attorney and then minutes later walking out of the courtroom in frustration.

The day before the hearing, family and friends of Chad O'Melia marched in front of the county government center, urging a sentence that included prison time. They carried signs that said, “108 Stab Wounds Is A Serious Crime,” and “Judge Worley, Do The Right Thing.”

O’Melia was 26 when he was killed. He was from Santa Clarita and had graduated from Chico State University. He lived in a condo in Thousand Oaks with two roommates and his dog and was working at an accounting firm and studying to be a certified public accountant.

He was kind, motivated and everybody’s friend. He owned a laugh that drew people to him, friends and family members said during the sentencing. They talked too about Michelle Larrivee, Chad’s mother who died in a diabetic coma less than two years after her son's death. Her friends said the death was caused by a broken heart.

Family and friends urged Worley to impose prison time on Spejcher.

“There is no winner in this tragedy,” said Brendan O’Melia, the victim’s brother. “There can be, however, accountability.”


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