GUILTY OH - Brenda Powell, 50, stabbed to death by daughter Sydney, Akron, Mar. 3, 2020

[RickshawFan]

Listening to the detective's timeline, there was a space of time between when Brenda Powell called Mount Union and when they called back (the Dean and Associate testified to this, too). This would have allowed her time to prepare a plan and get the implements. She attacked, as far as I can tell, as soon as Mount Union called back. She had to have been ready, IMO.

 

[Trebor5591]

DAY 3 – 9/11/23

• Prosecutors rested their case-in-chief after calling their lead detective to the witness stand to testify that within days of killing her mother, Sydney was texting her reassurances that she was fine, and that her grades were good.
• In a text message dated February 25, Brenda wrote, “Why do I always feel like you’re scamming me, just remember you need the grades to keep your scholarship.”
  
  • Sydney responded: “My grades are good, thank you very much”
  • WATCH: Text Messages Reveal Brenda Powell Asked Sydney About Classes, Grades
• Lead investigator David Whiddon testified that they also recovered hotel searches in late February. Sydney stayed in hotels for several days and paid cash all to avoid going home after she was evicted from her dorm. Whiddon said he found no evidence that Sydney was suffering mental health issues.
• On March 3rd, her parents discovered the truth, when her father Steven Powell couldn’t access the portal to pay her tuition. Powell confronted Sydney about it – and learned that she had been suspended. Her mother Brenda had come home to discuss the matter with her and was attacked while on the phone with school administrators.
• Prosecutors allege that Sydney had the presence of mind to stage the crime scene after she killed her mother. Investigator David Boerner said blood found on the outside of the door near the broken window suggests she broke the window only after a ‘blood shedding’ event. She told police that there had been a break-in and her mother told her to get out.
  
  • WATCH: Jury Sees Frying Pan That Killed Branda Powell
• Defense Attorney Don Malarcik played for jurors a mash of Sydney’s behavior after police arrived on the scene. She was erratic and hysterical initially but then when ground, she lay there in the fetal position catatonic and appeared unable to respond to questions. Sydney Powell has pled not guilty by reason of insanity.

OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial

UPDATE: A judge has sentenced Sydney Powell to 15 years to life for the the fatal stabbing of her mother in the family's home.

www.courttv.com

 

[realanastasia]

This comes from my years of teaching higher ed from frosh to MA candidates.

I would guess Sydney was WAY far off in not getting the swing of things (I mean, was she skipping tests? not turning in papers?), and that's how she managed to get warnings, probation, and suspension. She seems to have had a good high school education. My guess is, no high school teacher had figured out that she might be depending on memorization and be very weak in conceptual thinking; this should have shown up in high school, but it takes an astute teacher to land on it as a problem. I'm speculating from my experience that if relying on high grades entirely achieved through memorization, a student at college entry would be very thrown off: it's just not going to work (distribution classes would be hell) and would be very challenging to get past, especially if you think of yourself as an A-grade student. FWIW most any student at college can memorize well. Some students never get more sophisticated, though, as college work requires.

To wrap up, an educated guess that makes sense to me, Sydney might have had a more subtle problem than skipping class (which is easily fixable by simply attending!), and it could have created a hole she couldn't get out of because it didn't jibe with her assumptions about herself. All those lies! IMO going to community college and then transferring (after a year or two of feeling successful) might have been a more comfortable and fitting strategy in her case. And it might have prevented her from getting in a position where the extreme act of taking her mom's life was the next step.

I agree completely with your post, as a college instructor. To be actually expelled, in my experience, a student has to do something well beyond just skipping their classes or failing their classes (and even if a student fails more than one or two courses in any semester, they'd still just be on academic probation until they got their grades up--they wouldn't actually be "separated" from the school).

Purely hypothetically, I'm wondering if SP might have resorted to buying term papers or committing plagiarism or some such violation of the academic integrity policy Mount Union (like all other schools) no doubt has. If she had been caught engaging in this kind of behavior, she probably would've been called to account by the Dean, and if SP just outright refused to admit to it (which seems like it would be in keeping with SP's continued attendance in classes and at sorority meetings after having been notified of her expulsion), then perhaps the school might have felt that this was the only remaining option?

 

[Gardenista]

Prosecutor did a good job today with the psychologist. I hope the jury can see thru the smokescreen.

 

[RickshawFan]

Prosecutor did a good job today with the psychologist. I hope the jury can see thru the smokescreen.

The schizophrenia defense is so bogus, I couldn't stand to watch, but maybe I will now.

 

[Gardenista]

The schizophrenia defense is so bogus, I couldn't stand to watch, but maybe I will now.

I would have liked a little more snark from the prosecutor, but it really was well done.

 

[RickshawFan]

I agree completely with your post, as a college instructor. To be actually expelled, in my experience, a student has to do something well beyond just skipping their classes or failing their classes (and even if a student fails more than one or two courses in any semester, they'd still just be on academic probation until they got their grades up--they wouldn't actually be "separated" from the school).

Purely hypothetically, I'm wondering if SP might have resorted to buying term papers or committing plagiarism or some such violation of the academic integrity policy Mount Union (like all other schools) no doubt has. If she had been caught engaging in this kind of behavior, she probably would've been called to account by the Dean, and if SP just outright refused to admit to it (which seems like it would be in keeping with SP's continued attendance in classes and at sorority meetings after having been notified of her expulsion), then perhaps the school might have felt that this was the only remaining option?

I doubt plagiarism or buying term papers. In those cases, I think the interaction with the Dean of Students office would have looked different. The Associate Dean kept detailing how they make clear to probationary students (Sydney's category) what the resources are, where to get them.... IIRC she even alluded to setting appointments for those resources, so the student didn't have to do ANYTHING except show up.

Sydney was put on probation for a whole semester after completing first year. She didn't do well the first year. I believe she had warnings during the first year, before she was ever on probation.

My sense is that Sydney just plain couldn't do the work. She does seem to be very immature, so I'm guessing she didn't have the intellectual sophistication to survive a freshman class. By "sophistication" I mean: grasping issues and themes; taking material you've learned and applying it to another situation; facility with image and metaphor; understanding point of view; having room for differences and other cultures. Volume of work, too.

She behaves like a child and everyone in her family treats her like a child. She appears to have a manipulative child brain. (For starters, she has a world where "if I don't think about it or talk about it, it isn't so". This is extremely childish.) This is DEFINITELY a problem in a university class. A good professor would notice this very quickly, and it would show up on any test that's not multiple choice. (Maybe I'll check the faculty credentials to gauge the likelihood.)

Later: I looked up their showcase faculty. They're not top tier, but they're very respectable (e.g. Ph.D.'s from flagship state universities). I would speculate they're on the ball.

******
FWIW Sydney was going to sorority meetings when she was no longer enrolled. Lived in the dorm, too. See testimony of Associate Dean.

 

[fred&edna]

I'm not buying the schizophrenia defense.

I don't know if anyone followed the 2019 trial of Nicole Nachtman in Florida... she shot/killed her mother and step-father in 2015. But, Nachtman's mental health was far, far worse than Sydney's. (imo)

 

[Jurisprudence]

Okay, I'm only at the start of this (so far excellent) opening, but she returned to school in the Spring? What kind of school let's you move in let alone have a bed for you when you've failed out - not catching you for weeks?! Where's the RA?

jmo

 

[RickshawFan]

I would have liked a little more snark from the prosecutor, but it really was well done.

I can't find the cross of the um um um psycho um um um logist.

 

[RickshawFan]

Okay, I'm only at the start of this (so far excellent) opening, but she returned to school in the Spring? What kind of school let's you move in let alone have a bed for you when you've failed out - not catching you for weeks?! Where's the RA?

jmo

Her dorm key was electronically disabled after 1st semester, so theoretically she couldn't access the dorm.

The Dean's office didn't know she was still there until she tried to vote at a sorority meeting, and she wasn't on the enrollment list. Even her roommate didn't know she flunked out. And the reason she stayed so far into the semester, was because the Dean's office was nice enough to give her a few days to move out: she just ignored the deadlines, they'd set a new one, etc.

 

[fred&edna]

I can't find the cross of the um um um psycho um um um logist.

Thought I was gonna lose my mind with all his uhmmm's

 

[Trebor5591]

DAY 4 – 9/13/23

• The first of several psychological experts who evaluated the defendant took the witness stand Wednesday to tell jurors that Sydney Powell was experiencing a psychotic break and could not appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions when she bludgeoned and stabbed her mother to death in March of 2020.
• Dr. James Reardon evaluated Powell in the fall of 2021 and diagnosed her with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. Reardon said Powell told him that she did not recall the attack, and only remembered flashes. Her last memory of her mother was that they were sitting on the couch, and she was comforting her. She recalled going up and down the stairs of their basement, wanting to get away. According to Reardon that was the extent of her recollection of the assault, her next memory was being at the hospital.
  • Reardon testified that Powell was deteriorating and losing her grip on reality in the three months leading up to the attack. Her lies to her parents about being enrolled in Mount Union attending classes when she had been suspended were an alternate reality that she lived because her failure was inconsistent with how she viewed herself, therefore she denied what was really going on in her life hoping she could make the falsehood a true reality, according to Reardon.
  • On cross by prosecutor Brian Stano, Reardon agreed that it was rare that sufferers of schizophrenia act out violently, and even rarer still that such patients report symptoms before the age of 13. Reardon had noted in his assessment that Powell told him she had experienced auditory hallucinations when she was as young as 11. Reardon agreed that schizophrenia does not give one a pass in the commission of a crime.
  • Prosecutor Brian Stano noted that some of the mental health professionals who saw Sydney in the days following the murder did not rule out malingering. He also noted in her hospital records that she initially said that she had no memory of who had stitched up her hand but then later recalled that a male resident stitched her up.
  • Reardon’s opined that the most relevant evidence was the attack itself, all taking place within 3.5 minutes. The start of the incident marked by the phone call to Brenda Powell at 12:36:45 and then the follow up phone call in which Sydney answered pretending to be her mother at 12:40:15. Reardon testified that the lack of motive, spontaneity and brutality of the attack were all factors that suggested Powell was in the throes of a psychotic break.
  • On cross the prosecutor pointed to two significant events during the 3.5 minutes attack – Stano noted that Sydney had the presence of mind to go outside of the house to break the window and later tell cops that an intruder was to blame, and she used two weapons during the attack, retrieving a knife after bludgeoning her mother with a cast iron frying pan.
  • Reardon explained that while she had lost touch with reality, she was still trying to make sense of what was senseless and felt like she had to get away, but by the time of the attack – Reardon opined that she was incapable of reasonable thought.
  • Reardon explained that her psychotic break was one of the most severe that he had ever seen in his 46 years of practice.
• Testifying for the defense, Powell’s grandmother, Elizabeth recalled that after a few months of medication Sydney got better, and with tweaks to her medication she showed a marked improvement. She testified that Sydney came to live with her and continues to live on her grandparent’s farm.
• Amanda Brown, no relation to Elizabeth Brown testified there were signs of Sidney’s struggle to cope with stress and anxiety when they were in high school. The registered nurse who used to work with psychiatric patients said she noticed signs that Sydney was gradually isolating herself more while in college but agreed with the State that the signs she exhibited was not concerning enough to tell the defendant’s mother, or authorities at the school.

OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial

UPDATE: A judge has sentenced Sydney Powell to 15 years to life for the the fatal stabbing of her mother in the family's home.

www.courttv.com

 

[Dpdan]

She comes across as more narcissist than schizophrenic to me. She was incensed when she couldn't control the narrative anymore, and was ashamed of her academic failure. Not a psychotic break, but narcissistic rage. Imo, I am not a doctor.

 

[Trebor5591]

DAILY TRIAL COVERAGE

DAY 5 – 9/14/23

• The judge noted for the record that Sydney Powell has requested to be excused from the courtroom. Powell agreed, and this marked this first time her voice was heard in the courtroom.
• Sydney’s former English teacher described her as a standout student and wrote a letter recommending her to the college where she ultimately failed.
  • WATCH: English Teacher Describes Sydney Powell in High School
  • Milligan taught Sydney for three years while she attended St. Vincents High School.
  • Milligan described an incident in which Sydney, accompanied by a friend, came to her distressed and crying because she ‘could not see the numbers.’ The situation was resolved when a teacher agreed to give Sydney a test at another time. Milligan said that she did not report the incident to school officials and that she never observed mental health issues in Sydney that would have caused enough concern to contact her parents.
• Dr. Thomas Swale, a neuropsychologist, testified that Sydney was out of her mind and experiencing psychosis when she attacked her mother.
  • Swale was asked to evaluate Powell in July of 2023 to determine whether she was insane at the time of the murder. After reviewing her medical records, Swale diagnosed Sydney with schizoaffective disorder bipolar type and opined that she was in an acute psychotic state at the time of the murder.
  • Swale said that Sydney suffered schizophrenic symptoms until May 2020, and then for four months after that she experienced suicidal ideation. Sweale said that he administered a series of tests to rule out malingering and at an earlier evaluation in 2021 he ruled out epilepsy or neurological impairment as having caused the criminal conduct.
  • Lack of motive for the attack on her mother helped persuade Swale that Sydney was insane and could not tell right from wrong at the time of the murder.

OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial

UPDATE: A judge has sentenced Sydney Powell to 15 years to life for the the fatal stabbing of her mother in the family's home.

www.courttv.com

 

[Trebor5591]

DAILY TRIAL COVERAGE

DAY 5 – 9/14/23

• The judge noted for the record that Sydney Powell has requested to be excused from the courtroom. Powell agreed, and this marked this first time her voice was heard in the courtroom.
• Sydney’s former English teacher described her as a standout student and wrote a letter recommending her to the college where she ultimately failed.
  • WATCH: English Teacher Describes Sydney Powell in High School
  • Milligan taught Sydney for three years while she attended St. Vincents High School.
  • Milligan described an incident in which Sydney, accompanied by a friend, came to her distressed and crying because she ‘could not see the numbers.’ The situation was resolved when a teacher agreed to give Sydney a test at another time. Milligan said that she did not report the incident to school officials and that she never observed mental health issues in Sydney that would have caused enough concern to contact her parents.
• Dr. Thomas Swale, a neuropsychologist, testified that Sydney was out of her mind and experiencing psychosis when she attacked her mother.
  • Swale was asked to evaluate Powell in July of 2023 to determine whether she was insane at the time of the murder. After reviewing her medical records, Swale diagnosed Sydney with schizoaffective disorder bipolar type and opined that she was in an acute psychotic state at the time of the murder.
  • Swale said that Sydney suffered schizophrenic symptoms until May 2020, and then for four months after that she experienced suicidal ideation. Sweale said that he administered a series of tests to rule out malingering and at an earlier evaluation in 2021 he ruled out epilepsy or neurological impairment as having caused the criminal conduct.
  • Lack of motive for the attack on her mother helped persuade Swale that Sydney was insane and could not tell right from wrong at the time of the murder.

OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial

UPDATE: A judge has sentenced Sydney Powell to 15 years to life for the the fatal stabbing of her mother in the family's home.

www.courttv.com

"Lack of motive for the attack on her mother helped persuade Swale that Sydney was insane and could not tell right from wrong at the time of the murder."

Lack of motive? Her motive for murdering her mother was that the mother was on the phone with the college about to learn that her daughter had been expelled! The murdering daughter had been lying about that to her parents!

No matter what diagnosis the defense experts come up with--diagnosis that are 100% subjective--Sydney Powell knew right from wrong because she staged a break-in and lied that an intruder had murdered her mother. She knew she was in trouble and desperately lied to cover it up.

I feel confident the jurors will see through the defense expert's psychological mumbo-jumbo.

 

[RickshawFan]

DAILY TRIAL COVERAGE

DAY 5 – 9/14/23

• The judge noted for the record that Sydney Powell has requested to be excused from the courtroom. Powell agreed, and this marked this first time her voice was heard in the courtroom.
• Sydney’s former English teacher described her as a standout student and wrote a letter recommending her to the college where she ultimately failed.
  • WATCH: English Teacher Describes Sydney Powell in High School
  • Milligan taught Sydney for three years while she attended St. Vincents High School.
  • Milligan described an incident in which Sydney, accompanied by a friend, came to her distressed and crying because she ‘could not see the numbers.’ The situation was resolved when a teacher agreed to give Sydney a test at another time. Milligan said that she did not report the incident to school officials and that she never observed mental health issues in Sydney that would have caused enough concern to contact her parents.
• Dr. Thomas Swale, a neuropsychologist, testified that Sydney was out of her mind and experiencing psychosis when she attacked her mother.
  • Swale was asked to evaluate Powell in July of 2023 to determine whether she was insane at the time of the murder. After reviewing her medical records, Swale diagnosed Sydney with schizoaffective disorder bipolar type and opined that she was in an acute psychotic state at the time of the murder.
  • Swale said that Sydney suffered schizophrenic symptoms until May 2020, and then for four months after that she experienced suicidal ideation. Sweale said that he administered a series of tests to rule out malingering and at an earlier evaluation in 2021 he ruled out epilepsy or neurological impairment as having caused the criminal conduct.
  • Lack of motive for the attack on her mother helped persuade Swale that Sydney was insane and could not tell right from wrong at the time of the murder.

OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial

UPDATE: A judge has sentenced Sydney Powell to 15 years to life for the the fatal stabbing of her mother in the family's home.

www.courttv.com

It caught my attention that IMO at no time did the English teacher describe Sydney as a “standout” student. Everything she said I read as “unremarkable”. IMO she was choosing her words carefully. The teacher was vague in the extreme: Sydney was respected by staff, respectful of teachers, was conscientious about grades. That’s about it.

No mention of academic giftedness, leadership, or contributions to the community. No mention of AP’s.

Matters not one whit that the teacher recommended her. Everyone who goes to college has 3 recommendations from somewhere or other! I’ve written recommendations for students whom I liked and felt should have a shot; they are carefully worded. They could be super bland, if need be: I could give examples where the student surprised me, or how they’d improved over the course of the term, how they’d gone out of their way to come to office hours, how active they were in discussions… See how you can say positive things without making the student out to be smart, or compromising your integrity? The English teacher didn’t have anything to say that was even this reflective of Sydney’s capacity as a student, nor even as a likeable and mature young person.

FWIW a good admissions department at a college/university will read between the lines. They notice what’s NOT there. I also used to do recruiting, and you don’t even have to exert yourself much to catch the drift. From there, the candidate might qualify or be disqualified from consideration (there might also be non-academic desirable features).

What I did catch from the English teacher’s comments was that Sydney knew how to coopt others to take care of her. Viz the chemistry test (which the teacher and another student rescued her over) and the skiing lesson where Sydney skied into a tree (after soliciting the teacher’s individual help and while being taught, no less). At university, you can’t be coopting others to take care of you in academic matters: they will tell you how to take care of yourself and push you in this direction. This is EXACTLY what the Dean’s office was doing, and they provided all kinds of safety rails to facilitate this (IMO that university does a super duper job with this).

To me, Sydney’s history of wanting to be rescued (and/or infantilized) without stepping forward for herself points to where we are now. She’s very manipulatively and aggressively trying to step away from responsibility for an egregious act. And she has a whole cadre of familiars to make that happen.

 

[RickshawFan]

To follow up on my long response, IMO not moving out of a dorm for 2 months and until you were pressed multiple times to attend to it like a grown up are an extreme manipulation to get rescued.

Sydney’s whole schtick in this trial is her trying to get a rescue.

 

[fred&edna]

I like the prosecution filing this motion in limine (re: Dr's testimony). Does anyone think the pros should have been "ready" for such a question posed to the Dr?

 

[RickshawFan]

I like the prosecution filing this motion in limine (re: Dr's testimony). Does anyone think the pros should have been "ready" for such a question posed to the Dr?

What is the motion in limine? And what was the situation? I have trouble locating video of this trial.