Family members of a man stabbed to death by a Ventura County woman during an episode of cannabis-induced psychosis in 2018 are outraged after a judge on Tuesday sentenced the 32-year-old woman to t…

During that psychotic break, she stabbed O’Melia multiple times, eventually killing him. She also stabbed herself repeatedly, officials said.

The next morning, officers arrived at the apartment to find O’Melia in a pool of blood and Spejcher screaming hysterically while still holding a knife in her hands. As officers tried to disarm her, Spejcher plunged the knife into her neck, authorities said.

This seems like the right move to me. If you drink alcohol, you know that you’ll be impaired driving and should be held accountable. When you smoke pot, you don’t expect that you’ll stab yourself in the neck. She truly seems to be a victim just as much as the guy, even if his outcome was ultimately worse.

  • zoostation@lemmy.world
    235·
    10 months ago

    “This seems like the right move to me. If you drink alcohol, you know that you’ll be impaired driving and should be held accountable. When you smoke pot, you don’t expect that you’ll stab yourself in the neck. She truly seems to be a victim just as much as the guy, even if his outcome was ultimately worse.”

    Even for the internet, this is stupid.

    • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
      142·
      10 months ago

      Prison is supposed to exist to rehabilitate someone who commits a crime, if she had a psychological break prison is not really the place to send her.

      I think she should get psychological treatment though instead of probation, they should get to the bottom of what caused this so it wouldn’t happen again. Also I would definitely need some counselling after killing someone during an episode.

      • quindraco@lemm.ee
        1·
        10 months ago

        Prison is supposed to exist to rehabilitate someone who commits a crime

        Absolutely false. What gave you this idea?

        Prison has the following priorities:

        1. Specific deterrence: while the prisoner is incarcerated, they are physically incapable of committing most possible crimes against the populace. After they get out, hopefully their hatred of prison will keep them from reoffending.
        2. General deterrence: People who would otherwise commit crimes will choose not to for fear of prison.

        Rehabilitation is not and never has been a goal of American prisons. It’s an actual goal in e.g. Norwegian prisons, if you want to know what such a system looks like.

        • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
          3·
          10 months ago

          I did say prison is supposed to rehabilitate someone as that’s the only way a prison is effective. The American system doesn’t even work as a deterrence since you got like the highest percentage of your population imprisoned among the better off countries not run by just a warlord.

          Even if you are using prison as a theoretical deterrence putting someone who had a psychological break in there deters nothing.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
          3·
          10 months ago

          Well, no. Those are the reasons the prison industry gives when pressed for an explanation for why conditions are so brutal and recidivism is so high.

          Prison is not an effective deterrence in either of the examples you provided.

          The American prison system has precisely one priority, profit. Anything else is tap dancing.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      11·
      10 months ago

      What part of “the drug that makes people chill out and eat snacks” do you think equals “I’ll harm myself and others”?

  • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
    123·
    10 months ago

    So they’re saying that taking a couple of bong hits made this girl stab someone 108 times and try to kill herself? Seems like she may have bigger issues than just “marijuana induced psychosis”… I’ve taken plenty of bong hits in my life and never stabbed anyone nor seen anyone else try to do so. It sounds like either that weed was laced with PCP or she has some other serious psychological issues. Either way she probably shouldn’t just be walking away from this free and clear…

  • logicbomb@lemmy.world
    5·
    10 months ago

    I don’t understand what I’m reading here. Maybe California law is different, but if she was sentenced to probation, then doesn’t that mean that she was found guilty?

    If her defense was supposed to be that she was not responsible due to psychosis, wouldn’t she be found not guilty due to the psychosis, and would be treated in a psychiatric hospital?

  • mibo80@lemm.ee
    3·
    10 months ago

    Prison is absolutely not about rehabilitation and never was. Reformation, maybe but, not rehabilitation. Agreed though she should be evaluated and treated for any psychological issues.

    I know weed makes people paranoid but most seem rational and grounded. Seems like there was definitely some pre-existing conditions for this one.

  • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
    31·
    10 months ago

    This is a great example of sentencing disparity between men and women. Swap the genders and it’s likely 20+ years.