Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'HIGHLY EDUCATED BEAUTY' Sucks Bong, Stabs Date 108 TIMES IN 'POT FRENZY,' GETS ZERO JAIL TIME

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Chad O'Melia and Bryn Spejcher are hanging out at O'Melia's home when a roommate comes home but goes to take a shower. He starts hearing noises downstairs and when he hears the sounds of things breaking, he takes a look. The roommate sees furniture toppled, the couch is flipped over and covered in blood, and O'Melia is severely wounded.  O'Melia begs for help. Bryn Spejcher has attacked Chad O'Melia in a pot-induced rage.  When police arrive they find Chad O'Melia dead from over 100 stab wounds, and Bryn Spejcher crying and screaming hysterically. The bloody knife is still in her hands. As officers try to disarm her, Spejcher plunges the knife into her own neck.  Officers use a Taser and several baton blows before they can disarm Spejcher finally. Bryn Spejcher is charged with murder with special allegations of using a deadly weapon, a crime involving great violence, violent conduct that indicates a danger to society, and being armed with and using a weapon in the commission of the crime. Spejcher posts bail and remains out on bail over the next 5-years of delays to allow for hearings and experts to provide studies. Prosecutors reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter after their expert psychologist agreed with defense experts that Spejcher was suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis when she stabbed O’Melia to death. When the case finally gets to trial there is no argument about whether Bryn Spejcher killed Chad O’Melia or if her psychosis was legitimate.  During the trial, the LA Times reports, a medical expert testifies that Spejcher’s behavior is the result of cannabis-induced psychosis . According to the National Library of Medicine, a diagnosis of the disorder is given when hallucinations or delusions materialize shortly after consuming cannabis. According to the VC Star, Spejcher's defense attorneys claim that their client was "involuntarily intoxicated," and that O'Melia had allegedly bullied and intimidated her into smoking the last bit of marijuana.  A jury finds Bryn Spejcher guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a killing triggered by cannabis psychosis, but Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Worley announced Spejcher would be sentenced to two years probation and a suspended prison sentence of four years. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Sean O’Melia - Chad O’Melia’s father Audry Nafziger- Ventura County Sr. Deputy District Attorney (prosecuted Chad O’Melia’s case); IG: @silvermanta, FB: Audry Nafziger  Dr. Kris Mohandie - Ph.D., ABPP, Forensic Psychologist; Author: “Evil Thoughts: Wicked Deeds;" Twitter: @Dr.KrisMohandie  IG: drkrismohandie   Robin Dreeke – Behavior Expert & Retired FBI Special Agent / Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program; Author: “Sizing People Up: A Veteran FBI Agents Manual for Behavior Prediction;” Twitter: @rdreeke Dr. Othon Mena – Forensic Pathologist (working as a medical examiner in Southern California) Andy Kahan– Director of Victim Services and Advocacy at Crime Stoppers of Houston; Facebook: “Andy Kahan and Crime Stoppers of Houston;” Twitter: @AKahanCrimeSto1; Instagram: AndyVictimAdvocate Becca Whitnall - Editor of Thousand Oaks Acorn, Acorn Newspapers; X: @BeccaWhitnall & @TOAcornNews   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A young son, a brother, a first-generation Irish-American, great grades, athlete, studying his head off to pass the grueling CPA exam. This is every parent's dream come true. So why was this golden boy, Chad Amelia, brutally stabbed dead, stabbed over 100 times? think 108 times, but all of you legal eagles know that after multiple stabbings, it's hard to tell how many times someone was stabbed because of overlapping. But we can document 108 times. And you may think, like many sage crime fighters do, he stabbed 108 times. What was he doing wrong? Can I tell you?

Nothing. This truly is the golden boy scrubbed in sunshine. And then we learn the woman who stabs her date over 100 times was in a weed-induced frenzy. Now ask yourself, what could be worse than losing your child? Many of you know my fiancé was murdered shortly before our wedding and I thought I knew it all about grief and mourning, deep depression until a few years ago when I had the twins. And now I know that nothing could be worse than losing your child. Except for one thing. Losing your child to murder and the murderer gets straight probation. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now, including Becca Whitnall at Thousand Oaks Acorn, Andy Kahn, Victims' Rights Advocate, Dr. Othan Mena, Medical Examiner, Robin Dreek, former FBI behavioral expert, Dr. Chris Mahandy, forensic psychologist and author, Audrey Nefziger, the special district attorney, deputy DA on this case. But first, I want to go to a very special guest joining me. It's Shawn Amelia, Chad's father. How did an evening that started so innocently go so horribly wrong?

100 plus stabbings on your beautiful boy. The moment I saw him, all I could think about is my big boy, John David Lynch. When did you learn about what happened, Sean? It was the morning of May 28th. It was about 10, 15 a.m. in the morning, two sheriff's deputies came to my home and they were explaining to me initially, actually, they were trying to determine if I was Chad's father. And when we, you know, I gave them that information. Where were you? Were you in the kitchen having coffee?

Were you getting ready for work? What was happening? Actually, I was coming down from a home that I own about or owned four houses up the street from where I live. Because my parents, my mother and my stepfather, he had progressed into dementia. So I picked up that home hoping that they would move into it. But by the time it was finished being renovated, he had passed. So she never moved into that house. So you guys all grew up as a big extended family.

You're all irish you came to the u.s and your son was the first generation american yeah that's correct yes so so the the gentleman um asked me um you know he me. He showed me a picture. Chad had a tattoo of what's called a triquetra. It's a Celtic Irish symbol on his forearm, and it symbolizes the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and the unity of all things in the world. And that's how they asked me to identify him. And I said, yeah, that's my son's tattoo. And then I said, I'm extremely worried about what you're doing right now. What's going on? Okay, wait a minute. Let me understand something, Mr. Amelia.

Guys, you were hearing Sean Amelia. This is Chad's father, and he comes up to his home, and there's LA law enforcement, and what would you do if somebody says, does your son have a tattoo of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? I would want to know what's going on. The worst would go through my mind. What happened? Well, I gave them acknowledgement. Yes, that's my son's tattoo.

And I said, what's going on? And then they asked me immediately, there's two of them. They said, what can you tell us about his girlfriend? And I looked at them and I said, he doesn't have a girlfriend. And that's when they turned and looked at each other kind of surprised. And I said, you guys are really, you know, you guys are really worrying me at this point. What is going on? And, you know, Chad was, he was an incredibly strong young man.

He was very fit, very tough. And the sheriff said to me, well, he's been stabbed. And at that moment, you know, I thought, okay, I need to go see him wherever he is. I just thought he'd be in a hospital somewhere or, you know, he was not, you know, you know, I didn't even, it didn't even dawn on me or occur to me that what he was going to say next, because I said, well, I want to go see him. Where is he? And he said, we, I want to go see him. Where is he? And he said, we cannot allow you to go to this scene. He's deceased. And that's when, um,

that's when I realized, you know, that, you know, I just, I just couldn't believe what happened. So I, I literally dropped to my knees and I couldn't believe what they had told me. And at that point, just by coincidence, one of my uncles, who is the matriarch of our family, he just happened to pull up into my driveway. And, you know, thank God that he did because, you know, he kind of pulled me together. And then we all went into the kitchen. I went into the kitchen with the two sheriffs and my uncle. And I had to explain to him what they had just told me. He couldn't believe it. And then the sheriff asked me right after that, I said, look, we need to notify his mother. Um, do you want to do that? Or do you want us to do it?

I said, well, I don't want her to find out the way I just found out. So I will take care of it. And, uh, I called her immediately and she had an appointment that she was headed to. And I asked her to cancel the appointment. And I drove to her home, which was very close to my home, and I sat her down, and I, you know, I had to tell her. I'd say, you know, Michelle, I just got some really bad news. Chad, you know, he's dead. And, you know, from that moment forward, I mean, I just, you know, she just, it was like, it was like, literally was like looking into her eye and seeing something, something just

break in a human being. I've never seen anything like before, but that's what happened. And I was concerned about leaving her because I had to, obviously the next person I had to go drive and tell was my mother. And they were very close. And he, I just, you know, reached out to her sister and said, you need to come here. She cannot be here by herself. And she has really good friends, strong friends. So they came and supported her. And then I left and I had about an hour and 45 minute drive to get to my mom's house. And, um, I remember, you know, telling my mom, I had to tell my mom that, uh, you know, that same thing. I sat her down and just said, mom, and she knew something was wrong because I was there with my uncle,

Noel, my uncle, Christopher, I took them with me. And, uh, my uncle Noel actually drove me there. She goes, what's going on? I just said, well, Mom, I got some really bad news. I said, Chad is deceased. I could see that she was in shock, but she reached out and she grabbed ahold old me and she just looked at me and said well you know Sean he's in a better place than we are and that's what she said to me

so that's kind of how the initial understanding of his loss went for me and our family. Guys, you are hearing the father of Chad Amelia literally scrubbed in sunshine. And I'm not saying that this perfect boy's life is any more or less valuable than anybody else's. It just, the irony, the bad taste of a kid growing up and doing everything right, and then out of the blue, this boy is stabbed over a hundred times by his girlfriend. She, in a weed-induced frenzy.

And everybody across the country that's legalizing pot, saying it's okay, it's fine. It's not. It is not. I know I'm the voice in the wilderness on this, but I've seen so many victims fall prey to pot. That's not the issue today. That's a much different argument. The issue today is his killer is walking free on straight probation. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Audrey Nefziger, Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted this case, she did not agree with straight probation. This was not a deal. You know, you can either plead guilty with a plea deal that the state agrees with the defense and they present it to the judge. You can plead blind plea where you plead guilty and you just throw yourself on the judge's mercy

or you can go to trial. This was not an agreed deal. So don't hold this against her. My question to you, Audrey, is when you hear Mr. Amelia speaking, I mean, I know for all the years I prosecuted violent crimes, I would add that pain to my own heart and I carry it around to this day. Does it ever become staggering to you? Because sometimes it did to me. I would have to pull off the road when I would leave the courthouse sometimes and just cry. Of course, I couldn't let anybody else see me cry because then I would be weak. But when you hear Mr. Amelia telling his story and you know his killer who voluntarily took pot, smoked pot and got so high, she stabbed him. That's not in question.

It's not who did it. She did it. How does that hit you, Audrey? Nancy, you said it exactly right. I carry the trauma, the pain. I don't know the pain that Sean knows, but it deeply impacts me. And listening to him, I mean, I brought the tissue box over, and it's just, how can anyone not feel the humanity of losing Chad Amelia it's just a horrible thing and in compounding it in this case was the extraordinarily graphic video

that I had to watch I don't even know how many times maybe a hundred times and it's it's just something you can never unsee. And it's very, it's horrible, a horrible thing to experience. And, and I think as a prosecutor, you know, we harness, we harness that pain and we use it to, to get through horrible trials and to bring justice as best we can. And that's what I did. You know, to Andy Kahn joining me, colleague and friend, Director of Victim Services at Crime Stoppers Houston. Andy, I know how much you research every case that you advance. When I look, and I know you've got a million dollar smile, just full of life, full of happiness. It just kills me to think what this judge has done. You know, Nancy, crime victims in this case is like the poster child.

They are no longer victims under the guise of this new criminal justice reform that we seem to be operating on. The defendants, like this lady, they are now the new victims, and actual crime victims are basically treated as non-entities. And here's what I really find fascinating. So they're claiming this cannabis-induced psychosis that led her to stabbing Chad over 100 times. The weed was purchased at this local dispensary. That's the only case that I've seen, and we're going on six years. So it's not like people who purchased this type of marijuana all of a sudden get this psychosis induced and they go around stabbing people to death. This is a precedent-setting decision that's going to have far-reaching consequences for future cases. The impact of this decision is frightening. Joining me is Becca Whitnall, editor of Thousand Oaks Acorn at Acorn Newspapers.

Becca, thank you for being with us. Who is this Judge Worley? David Worley, I believe. Well, he's a Ventura County Superior Court judge. And I keep asking myself the same thing. I kind of wonder why even have a jury if your ruling is going to kind of almost negate what they found. So, Becca Whitnall, regarding this judge, I agree with you. Why bother to go through the time and expense of having a jury when you're going to negate everything they do and just sentence the guy to straight probation? I've seen this before in a murder.

It was in the Louise Woodward au pair murder where she murdered baby Matthew Eapen. The jury came back with a homicide conviction and the judge sentenced her to straight probation. And they came back, as I recall, with either a murder of voluntary, not involuntary. And the judge just took it upon himself to give straight probation. It has happened before. And that is why I am calling for a recall. I don't want this judge to just slither off the bench and enjoy retirement. I want a recall effort on David Worley because what he did was wrong. To you, Sean Amelia, I've looked up Orly. He was basically an ambulance chaser in a law firm

and then somehow got appointed to the bench and then ran. What is your response to what the judge did, Sean? Well, I have to agree with what Becca just said. There are two things that happened. I don't, there are two things that happen that I don't even understand why we were put through them. And after what he did, you know, obviously the first is, you know, the good people, the County of Ventura did their civic duty. They listened to the evidence, they listened to the facts, and they came to a unanimous decision in a very short period of time and you know the the da then asks for the maximum time then you have the probation

officer recommending felony jail time and then all of a sudden, all of that collective information gets put in the hands of one individual where there's no checks and balances on. And at that point, he can do whatever he wants. So I, in my opinion, he failed Chad, he failed the people of Ventura County. He just, he really did not do, in my opinion, he didn't do his job reviewing it objectively and seeing this in the fact that person is an individual. He was too focused, I believe, on the perpetrator of the crime as an individual. He was too focused, I believe, on the perpetrator of the crime as an individual and not on the facts of the case. To Dr. Chris Mohandy joining us, forensic psychologist, author of Evil Thoughts, Wicked Deeds. Dr. Mohandy, thank you for being with us. I was listening to what Sean Amelia was saying as he described being told his son had been stabbed.

His immediate reaction was much like mine was when Keith was murdered. I thought if I could just get to him, I could fix it. I could get him to the right hospital, the right doctor. We could perform the right surgery or methods and everything was going to be fine. That did not happen. It's almost as if you can't take in what you're hearing. What is that psychological phenomena? so traumatic and overwhelming to be presented with the idea that somebody that you, you know, that you're, you know, so basically attached to as your own child, as a parent, there's no way it's unfathomable. It's just something that your mind is incapable of processing. It's too much.

So that denial is the first thing that comes up. No, this can't be. And that is actually the beginning of the grief process is that denial. But it's just such a powerful thing because it goes to that basic, you know, attachment, as well as the idea that, you know what, your kids, we're not supposed to see our kids, you know, pass away and die from any cause. We're supposed to go first. I think it's that the idea that your son or your fiance has been murdered is so out of left field that your mind tries to apply logic, normalcy to what you're hearing and somehow in your mind fix it and make it something acceptable i don't think your mind i'm certainly not a shrink can take it in what exactly happened

how did the judge reach this outrageous decision that a woman in a potuced frenzy who stabs her boyfriend 108 times should walk free? What happened that night? Listen to investigative reporter Nicole Parton. Vinny Oliveira is upstairs in his room when he hears the sounds of things breaking downstairs. Taking a look down the stairs, Oliveira sees Amelia and Spacher's dogs together on the landing area, looking scared. Heading downstairs, Oliveira sees furniture toppled, the couches flipped over and

covered in blood, and Amelia is severely wounded. Oliveira says there is a hole where his heart is, with blood everywhere, and Amelia says, Vinny, please help me. She stabbed me. Vinny, Oliveira runs back upstairs to get his phone to call for help. To Dr. Othan Minna, Ventura County Assistant Chief Medical Examiner,

who performed the autopsy on this young man, Chad Amelia. Dr. Othan Minna, the chairs were turned over, furniture was tumbled around. It was clearly violent, very violent. He tried to protect himself, but is there any way that someone can be saved if they've been stabbed in the heart? Was he stabbed in the heart or did it just look that way to the roommate? Yes, he was stabbed in the heart and also the lungs and liver. That's actually where most of the severe injuries were located in the chest and back along with his neck.

Can anyone survive a stab to the heart, Dr. Mena? Well, it depends on the severity. If it's a superficial injury and medical aid is rendered shortly after, it's certainly possible, but not when there was this much blood loss and multiple other sites that were injured that were also bleeding. According to the defense, the defendant in this case, the girlfriend, Brynn Spacher, had a, quote, psychotic break from reality and that therefore her use of cannabis pot was involuntary. I mean, the law is very clear, is it not, Audrey Neff-Zigger,

that voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense? Never a defense unless you, the defendant, are completely comatose. And she's not comatose because she's throwing over sofas and coffee tables and stabbing the victim over 100 times. So her voluntary use of pot is not going to be a defense. That's correct. That's exactly what the law says, and that's what the jury found in this case. Let me ask you this. Dr. Mohandy, joining us, did you administer a psychological test to Spacher before trial?

Did you learn anything about the amount of pot she ingested? Well, the psychological test, like the MMPI-2, which is what I use, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2, does not have anything to do with determining how much cannabis she ingested. That's derived from the toxicology that was from the blood draw at the hospital and, and so forth. So that testing post, you know, event that I did from a psychological standpoint is not what's going to result in the, you know, cannabis induced psychosis. That's not what's going to result in the cannabis induced psychosis diagnosis. That's derived from the fact that there was nothing else in her that she did test positive for THC and that she has no other history, no other agents that could have caused it and that it remitted. That means the symptoms went away as soon as she came down from the

intoxicating properties of it. Okay. I understand. So her state of mind was completely due to smoking a bong. I don't get it. Sean Amelia, this is Chad's dad. When someone is drunk out of their gourd and they have a car crash and kill a young man, they go down for vehicular homicide. Right? So why is this any different? She was sucking on a bong and then went into a pot frenzy and murdered Chad. How is that different? I don't I don't think it is different.

And not being an attorney, it's very hard for people that just go to work every day to take care of their families to understand how you stab somebody 108 times and you don't go to prison. I think there's a case pending right now that's going to be very interesting to hear what the outcome is. It's the Rebecca Grossman case. I understand she ran over two people, and it'll be interesting to see if she's treated differently. You know, I'm very curious why the judge thought the pot is any different, because isn't it true? Becca Whitnall joining us from Thousand Oaks Acorn at the time, Spacher stated she had taken one puff of a bong, but did not want to smoke anymore. Then she blames the victim claiming he urged her to smoke anymore. Then she blames the victim, claiming he urged her to smoke more.

And that, what, two or three more puffs made her go into a frenzy. I don't believe that for one minute. She's lying. Apparently, she had taken the first hit and told Chad she wasn't feeling anything. So he says, oh, let me re-load it. And she takes the second hit, and that's when all hell breaks loose. I find it really hard to believe that she was in a frenzy after two puffs on a bong. But that said, what else do we know happened that evening? Benny Oliveira runs back down the stairs, dialing 911 on his cell phone. Oliveira sees Brynn Spacher's attack on Chad Omelia hasn't ended. She's still

stabbing him as he's fallen to the ground. Oliveira is now outside the condo screaming for help, crying as he tries to explain to 911 what is happening, but says he's in some type of shock and remembers little of what happens next. He does remember police arriving on the scene and hearing what he thought were stun guns going off a few times. The voices that Brynn Spacher and only Brynn Spacher is hearing are telling her she has to keep fighting. She has to keep doing what she's doing. What she is doing is stabbing Chad O'Melia at least 108 times, as well as her dog and herself.

According to Sergeant Stephen Jenkins, Spacher says the more violent she is, the more she feels like she is coming back to life. Robin Drake joining me, behavior expert, former FBI special agent and chief of FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program, author of Sizing People Up, a veteran FBI agent's manual for behavior prediction. Let me throw a legal phrase on you, Latin. She's effing lying. Her story is all

over the place. First, she has one suck on a bong and then she doesn't want to smoke anymore. Next thing I know, she's gone into a pot frenzy. Now she's saying she heard voices. What defense lawyer told her to say that? I like your phraseology. It's about the level of my phraseology, too, Nancy. This case is so complex. Yeah, I know. The case is so complex.

BS! And it's confusing. But when it's so confusing, I'm looking at behavior arcs all over the place on this one. I think that's what the judge is, too. We're trying to figure out the judge's sentencing because what's his behavior arc that made him get such a light sentence to and countermine basically what the jury said and then what's her behavior arc because this is her behavior was complete deviation which then makes a lot of incongruencies and makes it very unbelievable for people but the bottom line here this whole thing is eroded trust and confidence in the legal system because there's such an incongruence between the sentencing and between what the jury said.

And there's victims everywhere. And like has been said earlier, they're making the perpetrator of the crime the victim. And that's a new trend that has become scary in the whole system. Yeah, I see that too, Andy Kahn. She's somehow trying to blame him for what she did. And did you hear that? After the roommate sees what's happening,

he thinks it's over, he wants to call 911, and the victim, Jack, is still saying, help me. He's still alive. He comes back, the roommate, and she's attacking him again, Andy. You know, Nancy, I've actually lost track of how many people, especially victims of violent crime,

have been victimized under this new realm of criminal justice reform. And the rights that you and I and other victim advocate trailblazers have now been essentially steamrolled and they're pushed under the carpet in the name of criminal justice reform. I wish I could say this is an anomaly, but it's not. It's part of a pattern. Listen to the judge's own statement where he said through no fault of her own, that being the offender, the defendant was out of touch with reality. That is total BS. Through no fault of her own.

That's not true. I agree, but this is what the judge is basing his decision on. This is his perspective, and that's what we're seeing all over the country right now. You have statements saying that, oh, gosh, the poor little defendant, she's never going to lead a normal life. She has now, wait for this now, her medical license and ability to help deaf people is at risk. And basically, Chad is a non-entity. He doesn't exist anymore. And that's why I firmly believe in cases like this. And dad, listen to me and I'll be more than happy to help you. Your son has to be a catalyst for change. This has got to stop.

We're basically victims are now being treated as non entities and defendants are now being treated as the new victim in this new era of criminal justice reform. So she's upset that her training as an audiologist to help deaf people could be revoked or impaired because she's a murderer? That's what she's worried about? Did I get that right, Sean? That's correct. Okay. What else do we know happened that day? Listen to Sydney Sumner, Crime Online. When police arrive, they find Chad Omelia dead from over a hundred stab wounds

and Brynn Spacher crying and screaming hysterically while still holding the bloody knife in her hands. The Ventura County Star reports officers find Spacher in a pool of blood holding a knife, and as officers try to disarm her, officers use a taser and several baton blows before they are able to finally disarm Spacher. A long serrated bread knife is taken from her hands. Chad Omelia is dead at the scene. Baton blows and a taser to calm this woman down, and she's worried about her license? Is that correct, Becca Whitnall? That's correct. I think it was nine blows with the baton before they could get her to let go of the knife that she was stabbing herself with. Wait a minute. You say she was stabbing herself. Wait a minute. I see the

pictures. I see them. Those are completely superficial. She doesn't even have a stitch nothing I have to say in court it seems the parties agreed that had the police not or the sheriff's officers not gotten that knife out of her hands that she likely would have suffered much more she did have to go to the hospital did she get stitches I don't know that she got stitches. I know she was in the hospital for days. Yeah, I don't think so. Looking right at her. I'm looking at the scratches. Scratches. Uh-uh. No. She stabbed this boy to death and she is walking free. Now, brace yourselves. Listen to this. It doesn't take the jury very long to find Brynn Spacher guilty of killing Chad Omelia. The couple had only dated for a couple weeks when Spacher attacks Omelia after she takes two hits from his bong. There is blood evidence, eyewitness

from the roommate, and when police arrive on the scene, she was holding the bloody knife in her hand. But she wasn't convicted of first-degree murder like she was originally charged. Spacher is convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Question to you, Audrey Nefziger, Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney who worked this case. Why were the charges reduced? Because the jury never even had a chance to look at murder, did they? That's correct. I'm the second attorney on the case. And when I got this case, the defense finally produced to us their defense strategy of marijuana-induced psychosis.

And so we then hired Dr. Mahandy because he is an expert in this area and in forensic psychology in general. And he did the testing. He evaluated her. He went through all of the evidence, including the video evidence. And it's very hard. I think it's very hard for people to grapple with the idea that that is what happened here. But I will tell you this, Nancy, seeing is believing. You're saying it would be hard for people to believe she was in a psychosis?

Yes. It's hard. Okay, can I ask you a question? Yeah. Can I ask you a question? Sure. She's in psychosis because of what? Because she voluntarily sucked that bong, just like you said.

That's right. She is in psychosis because she sucked a bong. That's right. And stabbed her boyfriend dead. And I've got to tell you, this woman did not just descend down from heaven. The roommates were very suspicious of her and thought that the victim, in this case, Chad Amelia, was moving way too fast with her. Take a listen to our cut two from Nicole Parton. Chad O'Melia lives in a condo in Thousand Oaks with two roommates and his dog. O'Melia is working at an accounting firm while studying to be a certified public accountant. O'Melia meets audiologist Brynn Spacher at a dog park and the two strike up a friendship

that quickly moves to something more. Even though the two have only dated a few weeks, one of Amelia's roommates, Vinny Oliveira, tells the Acorn that Chad was definitely smitten with Brynn Spacher. He says Amelia is talking about Spacher all the time and at one point suggests they might be moving too fast. So the roommates realized this was moving way too fast. Robin Dreet, you're the behavior expert. When all your friends can see something is wrong and you're the only one that can't see it, particularly when you think you're in love, what is that? Yeah, it's a lack of loving critics in your life

and your ability to listen to them. You're giving yourself your own confirmation bias of what you're seeking, and that's exactly what's going on here. And he confirmed his own bias for her, and it led to his death, unfortunately. To you, Sean, this is Chad's dad. Had he ever had a serious girlfriend before?

Oh, yeah. I mean, the first thing the sheriff's department asked myself and his mother, Michelle, for was a list of young ladies that he had dated. And we produced that list. And they interviewed all and, you know, they all said he was a gentleman. And, you know, he was raised that way. And so was his brother. And so was I. That's curious, Sean, Amelia.

It sounds to me like what they were trying to do, the defense, was trying to raise a self-defense strategy. But that was completely impossible. You know, back to you, Dr. Othan Minna, Ventura County Assistant Chief Medical Examiner. Have you ever handled a case where the victim has been stabbed this many times? Yes, a few times, a handful of times. There have been this many times in the dozens, probably not this many, but at least in the 70s to 80s. So then not this many. Is it true, Dr. Minna, that when you have so many stab wounds, it's hard to determine the exact number as the stab wounds begin to overlap and you can't tell if it's one, two, or three

stab wounds in the same cut? Right. That can happen, especially in terms of internal injuries. They start kind of intersecting each other and crossing each other's path. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, this is not the first time a judge has completely distorted and thwarted the law in this jurisdiction. Does the name Sean Shirk ring a bell? Take a listen to our cut 18. Sam Shirk has five sons, and oftentimes his sons don't get along with his live-in girlfriend, 59-year-old Margaret Dahl.

Sam Shirk's son, Sean, has been staying with his dad and Margaret Dahl, but when Dahl's elderly mother is coming to stay for a visit, Sean has to move out. Around midnight on August 24th, a few weeks after being forced out of the home he's been living in, Sean Shirk, extremely intoxicated, breaks a back sliding glass door, sneaks into the house, violently attacks Margaret Dahl and her mother, Phyllis Porter. The next morning, when Shirk's brother goes to the home, he discovers the shattered glass door and the women inside. Two women dead. Now take a listen to Cut 20. Sean Shirk's defense attorney begins working to have the double homicide charges reduced to involuntary manslaughter.

At hearings over a four-year period of time, experts testify about Shirk being the victim of abuse as a child and suffering PTSD. But the biggest thing the defense has proven, Sean Shirk was so intoxicated the night of the murders that he was not in control of his own actions. The prosecutors go along with the defense has proven. Sean Shirk was so intoxicated the night of the murders that he was not in control of his own actions. The prosecutors go along with the defense and now Shirk's attorney argue that Shirk was drunk and in the midst of a bout with PTSD when he fatally stabbed Margaret Dahl and her mother Phyllis Porter. The jury finds Shirk guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Once again, in the same jurisdiction,

the defendant commits murder and walks free, even when a jury comes back with a conviction on involuntary manslaughter, but still the judge sentences in a manner that the defendant walks free. In this case, I want you to hear what the defendant begins saying, what she realizes she's getting charged. Take a listen to investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. According to Spacher, she tells investigators that she begins hearing a sinister-like voice in her head before stabbing Amelia to death a little after midnight. The VC star points out

that under California law, a person is seen as responsible for their actions when impaired by drugs or alcohol unless their intoxication is involuntary. Spacher's defense attorney claims that their client was involuntarily intoxicated and that Amelia had allegedly bullied and intimidated her into smoking the last bit of marijuana. Now the defense, now they are arguing that the pot Spacher used was completely different from all the other pot in the world. Again, total BS. Take a listen to our 23 Dave Mack crime online. Bryn Spacher's lawyers are now claiming that the marijuana she consumed was a strain of

the drug with a THC level of more than 30%, significantly higher than the average dose. Lawyers claim that Spacher was not a regular smoker of marijuana, but the strain Amelia had her smoke had a warning label indicating it was for high-tolerance users only, since its THC content was above the average level of between 18 and 24%. Spacher's attorneys claim the strain brin spacher consumed was a strain with 31.8 thc prosecutor audrey navzinger told the jury there's no evidence omelia put anything other than regular old marijuana in the bong he prepared for spacher that night the argument to the jury by the defense is that this was some kind of unique, super potent pot. That's not true. The pot was analyzed what was left at the apartment. To Sean Amelia, this is Chad Amelia's dad. Chad was stabbed dead by a weed crazed girlfriend. You believe the judge favored white women.

Why do you say that? Well, earlier on in the case, when the charges were being, the charging document was being changed, and the charges were being changed from murder to involuntary manslaughter, I addressed the court. And at that time, when I addressed the court, the judge actually started to, when he was talking, speaking back to me, he was taking a position and he was actually, instead of just listening to my comments, he was defending her. He was defending her actions. And at one point, I mean, I have a copy of that transcript. At one point, you know, that's when he sort of emphasizes, well, it's a very tough thing for somebody to lose their medical license. And I responded, I said, well, my son lost his life. How can you compare, you know, her degree to my son's life. I was insulted by the remark, but I want to get back

to what you guys, this has been bothering me for a long, long time. Her attorneys keep, even now, they're still out there doing the victim blaming thing. And I mean, they're claiming that this marijuana was something that it was not. The marijuana was tested. And I don't smoke marijuana. I don't use marijuana. So I had to do a little homework on this myself. So my understanding from what I can gather in the research I've done, that high potency marijuana is anything over 20% THC content or 10 micrograms per dose. This marijuana was tested several different times and the lab reports, and if I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong, but the lab reports show it was between 12% and 16%. That is it. So this was no special strain and the container that it came in had no warning label on it. And if I'm

wrong, I want to be told I'm wrong. But I saw that in the evidence photos and there wasn't a warning label on it. So, I mean, none of that what they say makes any sense to me. From the beginning, it was blame the victim, attack the witnesses, badger the witnesses. And then in the end, in Robert Schwartz's closing argument, and I think this really put the jury off, he actually started to attack Audrey. I mean, he was attacking the prosecutor who had nothing to do with this other than presenting the evidence and the facts. So I'm disgusted in those two individuals as human beings. I'm also disgusted with the judge for allowing it. And you are allowed to argue in a closing statement.

That's what it's all about. Closing arguments. But you are not allowed to spout incorrect facts, facts that are not in evidence, which is what he did. And attacking the prosecutor, that's to be disallowed. But, you know, and we keep referring to her as a doctor. She's not a doctor. She has a doctorate in audiology. She is not a medical doctor and her whining about how murdering your son is going to affect her future.

I don't quite get that. And again, I understand where you're coming from. I'm not as angry about the BS claim that this is special potent marijuana. I'm angry that this woman can stab a defenseless guy. He didn't have a knife. He didn't have a gun. Who's sitting on the sofa over a hundred times and can walk free. No jail time based on a quack theory that she made up, claiming she was hearing voices that told her the more she stabbed him,

the more she would live. I think I've got that right. If I'm wrong, somebody jump in and tell me. But, Sean, when you heard the sentence, what went through your mind? Well, I felt immediately that the system had failed Chad, first of all, and that I could not, for the life of me, understand why we had to go through five and a half years of going back and forth to courtrooms and just hearing her attorneys constantly ask for extensions and them being granted. And then I just felt that there's absolutely no justice in the system

and that the system is broken at this point. Do you believe that she got a light sentence because of her gender and her education, that somehow a white woman is going to be believed in court when a minority, a black male, would not be believed in court. That's two tiers of justice. That's not what our founding fathers had in mind. That is not what the Constitution says. It's equal protection under the law. Lady Justice is blind for a reason. She's not supposed to get a break because she's a more affluent, educated white female. That's not okay. I agree with you. And to answer your question, I absolutely feel that way. And I said earlier in my comments, I didn't, he, he didn't separate himself from seeing her as, as you described. And he just, he just saw her that way and said, you know, this isn't,

this isn't the type of person that I should put in prison for some reason that must've went through his head. But her brother, when he got up to give his remarks and I was really angry about this, it was very difficult at times for me not to stand up and say things in that courtroom because we went through this exercise of, you know, giving the victims impact statements, which Judge Worley didn't even consider. He had written his remarks prior to and read from them on his sentencing decision. So we shouldn't have been put through that. But her brother gets up there and says, you know, she's not the type of person that should go to prison. And I thought to myself at that moment, do I stand up and say something here or do I sit down? Yeah, like in this case, Chad's not the kind of person

that should be dead and buried. The people that are supposed to go to prison are people that break break the law and don't adhere to the laws of the land. There is no demographic or there is no certain type of person that should or should not go to prison other than somebody that doesn't follow the law. You're absolutely right. I am just so distraught about how this sentencing went down and how this Judge Worley contorted the law. Is it true, Sean, that Chad's mother, grief-stricken, died during the trial. Yeah, about a year and a half after we lost Chad, she had type 2 diabetes and she just kind of got depressed and she stopped taking care of herself and she was just isolated herself.

And, you know, it's hard. You lose a child and you think to yourself, is it okay for me to be happy? And one day, is it okay for me to smile? Is it okay for me to be happy with my other son? You know, and all those, you know, like it's a feeling of guilt if I'm with my other son. And it was the same for Michelle. And it was worse for her. And she just declined. And I got a call on, I believe it was March 17th at about 730 at night from her good friend,

Lucretia Guzman. And she said, you need to get to the hospital right away. And I said, why? And she said, Michelle's not doing well. And when I got to the emergency department, I knew something really bad had happened because her sister was there. Lucretia was there.

A few of her other friends were there. And I asked, what's going on? And then they just directed me into a room and she was laying on a table. Pretty much she was already, she was on life support and she was already gone. She, she, she just couldn't handle it. And it's also hard for my younger son, Shane, because he feels in ways that, you know, Michelle felt so bad about what occurred, but he wishes that, you know, she would have focused more kind of on what we still have going forward. But she was unable to do that. She was just so focused on the loss of Chad that it just took her down.

Sean, Amelia, I don't know if you knew this or not, but as the killer, the girlfriend, Brynn Spacher, was walking out of court, you know what she said, right? She started bitching that she could not believe the judge had sentenced her to probation and community service. She was actually complaining on her way out of the courtroom. She should have been lying prostrate in the floor, thanking this judge for completely ignoring his duty. But instead, she was whining and complaining. I can't believe I've got to do community service. Did you know that? Actually, I was unaware of that. But I would say, given some of the other evidence that was presented

that I don't think she thought was going to be presented, it kind of doesn't surprise me. She portrays herself as one thing, and then this is who she really is. This is who this person is. And this is why when we saw the text messages that were presented during the case, you know, we realized that, you know, she's really not presenting herself truthfully. And I can't believe that she did say that because she is lucky that she hasn't been incarcerated for murder. Can I ask you, what did the text say? The texts were,

she made this claim that she was a naive marijuana user and that the text before these were texts before she had met Chad and the texts were illustrating that, you know, she was talking to her friends about marijuana use and about edibles and about how you can put oil on ice cream and get high from the marijuana oil. So she's a killer and a liar. You know, I think that I don't think she faces the reality of what she's done. I think that she she believes that for some reason that she shouldn't be held accountable for any of this. It hurts so badly to know that the judge discounted everything you and your family have been through

and sentenced this killer to straight probation. If you want your voice to be heard, contact Governor Gavin Newsom. He needs to hear this. Gavin.Newsom at gov.ca.gov. Repeat, Gavin.Newsom at gov.ca.gov. His number is 914-445-2841. Make your voice be heard. This is not justice. And may Chad, Amelia, and his mother find peace. Goodbye, friend.