A California judge sentenced a woman who stabbed her boyfriend 108 times in a marijuana-induced psychotic episode to just two years of probation and 100 hours of community service this week.
The shocking decision left the victim’s parents and the public in shock as Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley ruled Bryn Spejcher “had no control over his actions” in the involuntary manslaughter case.
Surprisingly, The Post can reveal another case in the same county where a man convicted of double murder served less than four years in prison for the same argument – that they were incapable of intent to kill due to intoxication.
Shawn Shirck, 29, was arrested in August 2019 for stabbing to death 59-year-old Margaret Dahl — his father’s girlfriend — and her mother, Phyllis Porter, 82, in Oak View.
But a Ventura County jury declined to convict Shirck of murder, opting instead for the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter — a charge that carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
Shawn Shirck spent four years in prison for the double murder. Ventura County District Attorney’s Office
Shirck’s lawyers argued at trial that he was drunk at the time of the murder. The deterioration – combined with an episode of PTSD – made it impossible for him to have consciously intended to kill the woman, they told the court.
His defense emphasized that Schirck had been physically abused as a child and had repeated bouts of PTSD.
By the time he was sentenced, Shirck had already served nearly four years in prison as his case continued.
Shirck stabbed Maggie Dahl multiple times inside her home. VC Star Obituary
Since California law credits inmates with a day of time served for each day spent in the county jail, Shirck satisfied his sentence and was released.
“I think it’s just an excuse,” Amanda Dahl, Margaret Dahl’s daughter-in-law, told the Los Angeles Times after her release in June. “He viciously attacked them and ran away.”
The case is very similar to that of audiologist Spejcher, 33, who killed boyfriend Chad O’Melia in her apartment in 2018.
Spejcher met O’Melia at a local dog park just weeks before the murder. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR/USA TODAY NETWORK
His lawyer argued that two bongs of marijuana O’Melia had forced him to take, despite not being a smoker, triggered a psychotic episode that left him technically unconscious when he stabbed her repeatedly.
Spejcher also stabbed his dog and then himself repeatedly after deputies arrived on the scene.
A jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, and he faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing this week.
Spejcher stabbed him in the neck 43 times after deputies arrived on the scene. Ventura County Sheriff’s Office
But Judge Worley chose against jail time, insisting he could not understand his actions.
“If you can stab someone 108 times and get a trial, we’ll have nothing but anarchy and chaos,” the victim’s father, Sean O’Melia, told The Post this week.
The distraught father argued that the intoxication defense provided a de facto “license to kill” for would-be murderers.
Relatives of the Dahl case also objected to Shirck’s term, and vowed to fight the state law that allowed the decision.
Chad O’Melia had only been seeing Spejcher for a few weeks before he killed her after smoking pot in her apartment. Facebook
“He only has to do it half the time,” Amanda Dahl said. “I don’t think getting drunk is an OK escape from this. It’s just confusing.”
But Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Sara Azari argued that determining intent is essential to a fair trial in homicide cases, and that mental issues and intoxication levels must be taken into account.
“This is no excuse,” he said. “It is a real obstacle to being able to form the intention to commit a crime. We don’t want to open the floodgates for people who have a few drinks and then blame the bottle for the crime they committed. It’s on a case-by-case basis.”
Azari points out that psychotic episodes can be fleeting, especially when compounded by drugs or alcohol.
“We’re very dismissive of mental illness and what it does to intent,” he said of the criminal justice system.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
