Girl found guilty of brutally killing mother after getting kicked out of college
The 23-year-old claims she killed her mom to avoid her finding out that she had been expelled from college
September 23, 2023
The prosecutor's office in Summit County, Ohio, said on Wednesday that a jury has found a 23-year-old former college student guilty of killing her mother in 2020.
According to a press release from the prosecutor's office, Sydney Powell, of Akron, was found guilty of murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence in relation to the death of Brenda Powell, 50.
“In March of 2020, Powell struck Brenda Powell in the head with an iron skillet, then stabbed her nearly 30 times in the neck,” according to the release.
The former Mount Union University student sobbed as the judgments were read out in the Summit County Common Pleas courtroom, according to Akron Beacon Journal.
Prosecutors claim that Powell killed her mother because she did not want her mother to find out that she had been expelled from college, People magazine reported.
Brenda, who had worked as a child life expert at Akron Children's Hospital for close to 30 years before the vicious attack, succumbed to her wounds there, according to CourtTV.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, Powell was tested by three defence experts who determined that she had schizophrenia.
They came to the conclusion that she had a mental condition and was unable to understand the wrongness of her behaviour.
Dr Silvia O'Bradovich, a clinical psychologist, was permitted to testify in court by the prosecution in response to the defence's assertion that Powell had the condition.
“The best source of information for an insanity evaluation is what was said and felt at the time of the incident,” O’Bradovich said. “It just didn’t add up to Schizophrenia.”
Assistant Prosecutor Brian Stano described the incident in court where he said that Sydney "stopped attacking with a pan and presumably went to the kitchen with a knife."
He emphasised that the multiple knife hits to Brenda's neck were purposeful and aimed to end someone.
Sydney is set to return to Judge Kelly McLaughlin's courtroom on October 28, 2023, for sentencing, with the judge deciding whether to serve her sentence at a mental health facility or prison, The US Sun reported.
St Vincent-St. Mary High School officials said Powell graduated from the school in 2018, said in 2020: “We are heartbroken by this shocking and tragic event that affects not only the family involved but all of us who know the young woman and her family.”
