Bryn Spejcher | 'Cannabis-Induced Psychosis' Killer Stabs Lover 108 Times

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[00:00:19] sized lemonade or sweet tea for $1.49. Perfect with our classic fries. Price and This is true crime psychology and personality, where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:00:42] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective.

[00:00:49] I'm Dr. Todd Grande. I have a PhD in counselor education and supervision, and I'm a licensed professional counselor of mental health.

[00:00:58] Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:01:01] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Bryn Spetcher? First, I'll look at the background

[00:01:06] of this case, move to the timeline of the crime, then offer my analysis. Bryn Spetcher was born

[00:01:13] on January 25, 1991. She had a hearing impairment from birth and used hearing aids. Bryn earned a

[00:01:20] doctorate in audiology from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

[00:01:26] In November of 2017, she moved to Thousand Oaks, California and worked as an audiologist

[00:01:32] for UCLA Health.

[00:01:34] Sometime around early May 2018, Bryn met a man named Chad O'Melia at a dog park.

[00:01:41] Chad was originally from Santa Clarita, California and lived in a condominium in Thousand

[00:01:46] Oaks. He worked at an accounting office and wanted to become a certified public accountant someday.

[00:01:53] He was described as a daily smoker of marijuana. Now moving to the timeline of the crime.

[00:01:59] On May 27, 2018, Bryn Specher arrived at Chad O'Melia's condominium sometime around

[00:02:06] 10 or 10.30 pm.

[00:02:09] During Brynn's visit, Chad smoked marijuana out of a bong.

[00:02:13] Again, this was a common behavior for Chad.

[00:02:16] He was a big fan of marijuana.

[00:02:18] Brynn indicated that she wanted some marijuana as well.

[00:02:21] After smoking some, she did not believe that she was feeling the effects.

[00:02:30] To remedy this perceived problem, Chad retrieved more of the drug for Bryn.

[00:02:38] Just after 1 a.m., now on May 28, the police responded to a report of a disturbance at Chad's condominium. When they entered his residence, they found Bryn holding an eight-inch knife and slashing her own face and neck.

[00:02:46] They deployed a taser and struck her repeatedly with a baton in order to persuade her to drop

[00:02:52] the knife. Bryn appeared to be impervious to pain. Eventually, the officers were able to take her

[00:02:58] into custody. In the condominium, they found 26-year-old Chad O'Melia. Bryn had stabbed Chad 108 times and killed him.

[00:03:08] In addition to attacking Chad, Bryn attacked and seriously injured her own dog.

[00:03:14] The dog survived the attack.

[00:03:16] On May 31, 2018, while Bryn was still in the hospital, she was arrested and charged with

[00:03:22] second-degree murder.

[00:03:24] On June 7, she was released on bail.

[00:03:27] The case took a long time to work its way through the court system.

[00:03:30] A mental health expert working for the defense claimed that Brin's

[00:03:34] homicidal actions were the result of cannabis-induced psychosis.

[00:03:39] Brin said that after the second hit on the Bong,

[00:03:42] she started to hear and see things that weren't there,

[00:03:44] and she had an out-of-body experience. She believed that she was dead and that she had to

[00:03:49] stab Chad to bring herself back to life. In a surprising twist, the state agreed with the

[00:03:55] conclusion of the defense and reduced Bryn's charges from second-degree murder to involuntary

[00:04:01] manslaughter. Instead of facing up to life in prison, she was only looking at a

[00:04:06] maximum sentence of four years. Bryn took her case to trial. On December 1, 2023, she was found

[00:04:13] guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The judge decided that Bryn would not be relocating to

[00:04:18] prison. She was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and to two years of probation. If she violates

[00:04:26] the conditions of her probation, she could go to prison for up to four years. The judge

[00:04:32] defended his decision to grant a very light sentence. He believed that after Bryn smoked

[00:04:37] marijuana, there was nothing that she could do to stop the killing. He said, quote, It

[00:04:42] was clear that she had no control of her faculties and never intended to cause any harm.

[00:04:46] All of the medical experts agreed, including the expert called by the district attorney's office, unquote.

[00:04:54] At her sentencing, Bryn stated that she wished she had known more about the dangers of marijuana.

[00:04:59] She said, quote, had I known, I would never have smoked it that night or at all.

[00:05:05] Unquote.

[00:05:06] Now moving to my analysis.

[00:05:09] There is no question that Brynn was at least guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

[00:05:13] However, some people believe that she was actually guilty of second degree murder.

[00:05:18] They believe the state made a mistake in reducing her charges.

[00:05:22] The state of course disagrees.

[00:05:24] They were pleased with the involuntary

[00:05:25] manslaughter conviction and they were not seeking anything more serious. They took the unusual move

[00:05:31] of siding with the defense. Usually the state is more interested in prosecuting defendants,

[00:05:36] however if the defendant is not guilty of a crime the state should not pursue charges. Maybe

[00:05:42] the state was trying to obtain a just outcome.

[00:05:45] This brings me to the question, was Bryn guilty of murder? Let's take a look at the evidence

[00:05:50] both for and against the idea that Bryn was guilty, starting with the inculpatory factors.

[00:05:55] There is no question that Bryn stabbed Chad 108 times, and this behavior resulted in his death.

[00:06:01] Chad did not provoke Bryn. He did not threaten her. This was not an act of

[00:06:06] self-defense. Chad was a victim in this case. Bryn went to Chad's home, knowing that he was

[00:06:13] a frequent marijuana user. There is no evidence to support Bryn's claim that she was forced,

[00:06:18] coerced, bullied, or intimidated into using marijuana. When she smoked marijuana with Chad the first time that

[00:06:25] night, she did so voluntarily. What changed during the second time? Now all of a sudden,

[00:06:31] Chad was forcing her to smoke? Her argument just doesn't make any sense. The evidence supports the

[00:06:37] idea that Bryn voluntarily used the drug. Therefore, she was responsible for her behavior afterward,

[00:06:42] regardless of her level of control. Her level of

[00:06:46] control beforehand is what's important. It's just like a situation where somebody becomes intoxicated

[00:06:52] in a bar and kill someone with a bottle or a chair. They may not be acting intentionally in

[00:06:58] the moment they killed the person, but they acted intentionally when they drank the alcohol.

[00:07:03] Voluntarily using substances does not give someone a license to kill,

[00:07:07] or even a license to get reduced charges.

[00:07:10] The marijuana used by Bryn and Chad was purchased at a local dispensary.

[00:07:15] There were no other reports of cannabis-induced psychosis or homicide.

[00:07:19] Maybe Bryn simply wanted to stab Chad, and the marijuana had nothing to do with it.

[00:07:24] She pretended to be psychotic, knowing the marijuana had nothing to do with it.

[00:07:25] She pretended to be psychotic, knowing this was her only chance of escaping criminal responsibility.

[00:07:31] Most people who become psychotic primarily represent a danger to themselves.

[00:07:35] Bryn not only became psychotic, she just happened to have a delusion that she needed to stab

[00:07:40] her lover to death.

[00:07:42] Mental health clinicians declared that Bryn had cannabis-induced psychosis,

[00:07:46] but there is no way they could know this for sure. One instrument used in the assessment process

[00:07:51] was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI. Research has demonstrated

[00:07:57] that this test cannot be relied upon to detect if a person is faking mental health symptoms.

[00:08:03] Moving to the exculpatory factors, mental health experts declared that Bryn was suffering

[00:08:08] from cannabis-induced psychosis at the time of the killing.

[00:08:12] One clinician who watched the body camera footage said that Bryn appeared to be possessed.

[00:08:17] Bryn harming herself with a knife is an unusual behavior, which would be difficult to fake.

[00:08:23] Most people trying to cover for a murder

[00:08:25] would not be inclined to do that.

[00:08:28] Furthermore, Bryn clearly liked her dog, yet she attacked the dog as well.

[00:08:33] She appeared to be impervious to pain, which is consistent with psychosis.

[00:08:38] Bryn claimed that Chad pressured her into smoking the marijuana.

[00:08:41] He may have filled the bong with more potent marijuana than Bryn used the first time.

[00:08:46] Although no physical evidence was found

[00:08:48] to support this claim,

[00:08:49] it does make sense under the circumstances.

[00:08:52] Bryn didn't feel the effect from her first use of the drug,

[00:08:55] so now Chad was looking to give her something stronger.

[00:08:59] Bryn said that she only used marijuana

[00:09:01] on eight occasions in her life

[00:09:03] and only felt the effects one time

[00:09:04] prior to smoking with Chad. If there was cannabis-induced psychosis, perhaps it

[00:09:09] was not a foreseeable consequence based on her history with the drug. Brynn had a reason

[00:09:15] to believe that her reaction to the drug would not involve a break from reality or stabbing

[00:09:20] people. Based on her history, Bryn did not appear to be particularly irresponsible

[00:09:25] with her drug use. For example, one of Bryn's friends said that Bryn actively avoided marijuana

[00:09:31] as a teenager. And a man that Bryn dated from 2014 to 2017 said that in 2015 he was with

[00:09:39] Bryn on a camping trip in Washington state. she smoked marijuana for the first time and decided

[00:09:45] that she did not like the drug.

[00:09:48] When considering all the evidence, do I think that Brynn was guilty of murder?

[00:09:51] No, in my opinion, she was not guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, but I do think

[00:09:56] she was guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

[00:09:59] The state made an appropriate decision in this case as far as reducing the charge, but

[00:10:04] that doesn't address the

[00:10:05] issue of sentencing. The judge was very lenient in this case. Bryn should have at least served

[00:10:11] some time in prison. I think what happened in this case is that the question about cannabis-induced

[00:10:16] psychosis became the focus instead of whether Bryn voluntarily used marijuana. It is reasonable to believe that Bryn was psychotic

[00:10:26] because of her cannabis use,

[00:10:28] but did she use the drug of her own volition?

[00:10:31] The evidence supports the theory that she did.

[00:10:34] Therefore, prison time would have made sense.

[00:10:37] Chad's father was worried that the judge

[00:10:39] has granted people a license to kill.

[00:10:42] This is an accurate and legitimate concern.

[00:10:45] This brings me to the question, is it safe for people to use marijuana or has its legalization

[00:10:51] in many areas created a false sense of security? Here's what the research tells us.

[00:10:57] Marijuana is the most consumed illicit drug in the world. Over 26% of adults will use

[00:11:03] the drug at some point during their lifetime.

[00:11:06] Marijuana use can lead to aggressive behavior, it can cause or exacerbate psychosis, 15%

[00:11:14] of cannabis users identified psychotic-like symptoms, and psychotic symptoms are twice

[00:11:19] as common in young adults who use cannabis. Marijuana frequently produces paranoia

[00:11:25] and has repeatedly demonstrated devastating effects

[00:11:29] on mental health, especially for people

[00:11:31] who have preexisting mental disorders like social anxiety,

[00:11:34] major depressive disorder,

[00:11:36] and post-traumatic stress disorder.

[00:11:38] These research results are a reminder

[00:11:40] that just because something is legal

[00:11:42] does not mean it is safe.

[00:11:44] Now moving to my final thoughts. Historically, individuals who have committed offenses during

[00:11:49] cannabis-induced psychosis have experienced a much greater chance of avoiding criminal responsibility

[00:11:54] because of the idea that the psychosis was not foreseeable. The case of Bryn Spetcher is a great

[00:12:01] example of this. When will the dangers of marijuana use be taken seriously?

[00:12:07] How many more people like Chad O'Melia will have to die before society declares the effects

[00:12:12] of marijuana as foreseeable?

[00:12:15] If people want to use the drug, that is their choice.

[00:12:18] But marijuana use should not grant permission to avoid the consequences of homicidal behavior

[00:12:24] or any criminal behavior.

[00:12:34] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from Arzlonga Media. This content

[00:12:40] is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Arurs Longa, VITA Brevis.

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