A 30-year-old California woman convicted of stabbing her boyfriend to death 108 times during a cannabis-induced psychotic episode sparked fury among the victim’s relatives by avoiding jail Tuesday during her sentence.
“(The judge) just gave everyone who smokes marijuana in the state of California a license to kill someone,” exclaimed Sean O’Melia, the victim’s father, shortly after dark. of the verdict in Ventura County Superior Court in California, according to the “Ventura County Star.”
The latter accused Judge David Worley of being biased in imposing a sweet sentence of two years of probation and 100 hours of community service on Bryn Spejcher on Tuesday. The woman was convicted by a jury of manslaughter for stabbing her new boyfriend, Chad O’Melia, 26, 108 times in May 2018.
The sentence was greeted with several “Oh my God” in the court room from relatives of the victim who could not believe their ears, after having paraded with signs in front of the court to denounce a “serious crime” , according to local media.
But according to the judge, the woman who turns 33 on Thursday “no longer had any control over her actions” after being pressured and intimidated by her partner to take more cannabis, placing her in a state of “involuntary intoxication”, in the words of his lawyers.
Except that under California criminal law, an individual is responsible for his actions when his abilities are impaired by alcohol or drugs, unless the intoxication is involuntary, specified the “Ventura County Star”.
When first responders arrived on the scene, the hysterical woman was screaming while holding the knife that had been used to stab her boyfriend and her dog to death, which she in turn plunged into her neck.
During the sentence on Tuesday, the 30-year-old spoke while crying to apologize to the father and relatives of the victim, who allegedly accused him on several occasions of having shown no remorse.
“My actions have torn your family apart. I’m broken and hurting inside. It hurts me to know that you will never see Chad again,” she whispered in front of the packed room, according to the local media.
Her lawyer, Bob Schwartz, applauded the “fair and courageous” decision, after the woman was described by those close to her as a licensed audiologist who worked “her whole life to help others.”
