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

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Trebor5591 said:
I feel upset at the mealy-mouthed approach that the prosecution used in their sentencing recommendations. Like the murderess Sydney Powell is some delicate little flower that the judge should be reluctant to sentence. Sydney Powell murdered her mother in a horrible violent attack. She is a danger to the community and could possibly kill again. She needs to spend her life behind bars, in my opinion!
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I feel the same. The poor, pitiful Sydney stuff drives me crazy.

I wish they would have read some of the letters from the community into the record.
 
Tanager said:
I concur. I am a mental health professional, and I feel that the schizophrenia diagnosis was complete fabrication. Sometime, in mental health, we start to think that a mental health diagnosis is as concrete as a medical diagnosis, such as cancer or appendicitis. It just isn't so. Diagnoses in the DSM are just shorthand for ticking the right number of boxes on an observable checklist of behaviors and symptoms that can be interpreted differently by different professionals. We do ourselves and our clients a disservice when we make these diagnoses sound more immutable than they are. To be fair there are a few conditions that can be identified with a brain scan.

I really appreciated the prosecution systematically addressing the inconsistencies between the mental health professionals. I think the psychologist testifying for the prosecution seemed mildly peeved because of the circular logic employed by the defense about the mental health symptoms caused by the crime that they employed in their diagnosis. There was also considerable cherry-picking of the information was employed in the diagnostic process that was provided by individuals other than Sydney. To twist an old quote, you could diagnose a ham sandwich, if you want.

To me some of the most damning evidence was the fact that several providers at the hospital treating Sydney raised concerns about malingering. This was before she was identified as a suspect, and before the staff knew about what happened at the crime scene. I think you have to be a pretty hammy actor to elicit these kind of concerns in standard medical care unless you are trying to obtain unnecessary medication.

I am relieved by the verdict. I get distressed when there is injustice, and I think justice was served here without question.
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This lands at random because I am just catching up from this week but I really appreciated this post from you @Tanager. Thanks for sharing your insight! Love learning and hearing from others here like this.
 
Gardenista said:
I feel the same. The poor, pitiful Sydney stuff drives me crazy.

I wish they would have read some of the letters from the community into the record.
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I really appreciated the tone of the Mount Union folks. Just very matter of fact, resources, plain, here's what to do, here's how we can help. No molly coddle, and plenty of guard rails. Adults expectations, with lots of direction. It says a lot that Sydney couldn't take advantage of any of that, and it made her fail.
 
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15 years to life. (prosecution recommended 18 to life)
www.11alive.com

Sydney Powell sentenced for mother's 2020 murder in Akron

The murder dates back to March of 2020 when Powell struck her 50-year-old mother in the head with an iron skillet before stabbing her nearly 30 times in the neck.
www.11alive.com www.11alive.com
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AKRON, Ohio — Sydney Powell, a 23-year-old Akron woman who was recently found guilty in the murder of her own mother, has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The decision from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kelly McLaughlin was announced Thursday morning, which 3News streamed live.

[...]

Powell, who was seen crying during the sentencing hearing, did not speak when given the opportunity.

“I have advised Miss Powell that given the nature of our appeal she should not make a statement today," an attorney told Judge McLaughlin.
 
ifindedout said:
15 years to life. (prosecution recommended 18 to life)

AKRON, Ohio — Sydney Powell, a 23-year-old Akron woman who was recently found guilty in the murder of her own mother, has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The decision from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kelly McLaughlin was announced Thursday morning, which 3News streamed live.

[...]

Powell, who was seen crying during the sentencing hearing, did not speak when given the opportunity.

“I have advised Miss Powell that given the nature of our appeal she should not make a statement today," an attorney told Judge McLaughlin.
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Also, she was (or will be) appointed an attorney to file any appeals as she is not able to afford one to represent her.
 
RickshawFan said:
The judge treated Sydney like a victim. Did she even mention Brenda?
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I noticed this, too. I feel like Sydney is very effective at framing herself as the victim. I feel like she is also benefiting in sentencing from being a upper-middle class white girl.

I just keep thinking about Brenda's text about feeling like Sydney was always scamming her. She still is, I am afraid.

Over time, people are who they are, and other people start to put it together, though. I've never been to jail or prison, but I think some of the hardest people to fool would be criminals because they are students of how to manipulate others.

I guess I feel like Sydney's family will get what they deserve at the end of Sydney's jail term: they get Sydney, whatever that means. If they have encouraged her to skirt responsibility and only think of herself, then that is who they will get. If they have encouraged her to make amends and repair the damage, then that is who they will get. She will get out, and she will live with the same people, and I'd be afraid to live with an emboldened Sydney who has not expressed heartfelt remorse for her actions.

I just want the person who has committed a crime to be sorry, and to be contrite toward the rest of society. I don't, at all, like how the defense is acting outraged on behalf of Sydney. Let's save the outrage for Brenda, shall we?
 
Tanager said:
I noticed this, too. I feel like Sydney is very effective at framing herself as the victim. I feel like she is also benefiting in sentencing from being a upper-middle class white girl.

I just keep thinking about Brenda's text about feeling like Sydney was always scamming her. She still is, I am afraid.

Over time, people are who they are, and other people start to put it together, though. I've never been to jail or prison, but I think some of the hardest people to fool would be criminals because they are students of how to manipulate others.

I guess I feel like Sydney's family will get what they deserve at the end of Sydney's jail term: they get Sydney, whatever that means. If they have encouraged her to skirt responsibility and only think of herself, then that is who they will get. If they have encouraged her to make amends and repair the damage, then that is who they will get. She will get out, and she will live with the same people, and I'd be afraid to live with an emboldened Sydney who has not expressed heartfelt remorse for her actions.

I just want the person who has committed a crime to be sorry, and to be contrite toward the rest of society. I don't, at all, like how the defense is acting outraged on behalf of Sydney. Let's save the outrage for Brenda, shall we?
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Great post!

Much of her family may be dead by the time Sydney is released. And she'll be close to the end of her childbearing years. And hopefully, the parole board will be stricter than the judge. My only hope is she doesn't magically get a pardon from the governor.

She didn't even apologize for causing PTSD to first responders. Since everyone agrees she did the deed, she could easily have apologized without harming an appeal.

I don't believe she'll be at all popular in prison, but the way prisons treat women like children might be just her kind of thing.

I also don't think she's ever had a job that isn't babysitting. Time now to get used to rolling up her sleeves; and it won't be in a role she ever envisioned herself in, I'll bet.

I'd venture to bet prison personnel are very experienced in spotting malingering a severe mental health illness to get one of those beds in their nice new facility. Sydney and her family claim she's stable on her meds: I'm guessing this would be a reason why she'd not be a candidate for a mental health bed. Half the prison population has mental illness, and Sydney would be far from exceptional.

I wasn't a one to ever think she was particularly intelligent. IIRC her teacher described her as conscientious about grades and not a troublemaker. I noticed what that teacher didn't say: no AP's, no technical savvy, no artistic talent, no leadership, no stellar projects, no community service. And what she did say describes a VERY unremarkable student. I'll bet half her high school had a similar GPA.
 
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MacKenzie Shirilla also got 15 years to life in Ohio. And the judge believed she wouldn't get out at 15 years. She projects a lot longer. In that context, the sentence for Sydney Powell seems about right. I'm still disappointed.

Like Sydney, Shirilla was also a "good student" in high school, about the only characteristic ever mentioned, and something they evidently both rely on for reputation. No volunteer work, no work work, no leadership, no music talent, no running for school president.... No giving ANYTHING to others. Both of them.
 
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IMO even if Sydney gets sent to the brand new psych ward at the Women's Reformatory, I doubt she'd stay there very long. Perhaps 1/2 of the inmates are on psych meds. She's certainly no special snowflake in that department. And Sydney is said to be stable on her psych meds. I also think medical personnel in prisons are tuned into malingering, so that schtick won't work, though it's worked for Sydney 'til now.

Just think, Powell and Shirilla could end up together..... They'll be, like, Denial Bunkmates.
 
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RickshawFan said:
I'm guessing there were severe stressors in the family dynamic that paved the way for this crime, and that some of the particular requests and angles in this case come in part from denial about context in the home.
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I wonder if we will ever find out? This case received some media attention, but not enough to learn about the family dynamics at play. I wish some good true-crime writer would take a closer look and write about it.
 
An attorney was appointed by the court for Sydney Powell's appeal. It is Stephen Grachanin. She apparently is indigent now. Wonder why Dad isn't paying for the appeal? He paid for the trial attorney.

I didn't know that States paid for appeal attorneys?
 

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Trebor5591 said:
I wonder if we will ever find out? This case received some media attention, but not enough to learn about the family dynamics at play. I wish some good true-crime writer would take a closer look and write about it.
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IMO The family dynamics were all concealed under the umbrella "Sydney is schizophrenic and was insane at the time." Pointing to one member of the family (a kind of scapegoating) as being individually the cause (and then letting her off on the grounds of mental illness) blurs the context. IMO the impulse to kill was not in a vacuum.

If Sydney was insane, she coulda randomly killed someone else, but this wasn't random, and there was a preceding history of lies and denials.

Also, the family seems to have very black-and-white thinking. Sydney was a "good girl", a "good student", and therefore she couldn't be bad in any way. Brenda saw the lies, and this seemed to turn Sydney into something less than good, when, in reality people are complex and textured, and EVERYONE lies. Sometimes lying creates boundaries and distance, and young people need this!

IMO something seems very off in this case, because family claims to "speak for Brenda" as though they know what would be in Brenda's head, "Brenda and Sydney were best friends" (this gets complicated, since moms are supposed to have the duties of moms, not peer friends), the veritable STACK of lies and denials. I dunno, but the 24/7 tracking of the family members with 360 (or whatever that app is called) seems very intrusive and problematic to me.

Heck, I wouldn't have been wanting my parents to track my every movement when I was in college. There'd be no room for boundaries, privacy, exploration of the world.... And the parents kept relentlessly hounding Sydney about why she was in one place or another.

We know about the tracking because Brenda would ask Sydney why she was spending so much time at the library (SP lied and said she had a job there), and also because Dad left his phone at work so Sydney wouldn't find out he was headed home to check her out.

And why were the parents rushing home to check things out? I don't get this either.... They could easily have made the necessary phone calls to campus from work and connected with Sydney later. Why was it so urgent?

Why was 360 needed, rather than just occasional texts between family members?

Myself, I would HATE all this scrutiny and urgency. I'd be lying all the time. I would unlikely have been in denial mode internally (IMO this was a big part of Sydney's problem), but I'm sure as heck not giving out the secrets of my life to my parents!
 
IMO if Sydney's crime isn't set into context, she could easily kill again. This whole event was not entirely about Sydney, she likely wasn't the root cause, and IMO she won't be getting appropriate treatment unless that's processed. The role of a "good girl" will almost certainly set her off again, if she's freed with that in mind, because there's no "good girl" 100% of the time. And, she's not gonna get treated like a "good girl" in the real world (or prison, for that matter). IMO
 
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