Appeals court overturns conviction of woman who beat mom with skillet and stabbed her to death

AKRON, Ohio (TCN) -- A state appeals court overturned the murder conviction of a 24-year-old woman who bludgeoned her mother with a skillet and fatally stabbed her over 30 times after she got kicked out of college.

The Ohio Ninth Judicial District Court of Appeals released the decision on Thursday, Dec. 26, arguing Sydney Powell was not given a chance to present a rebuttal after an expert testified about Powell’s mental state at the time she killed her mother, Brenda Powell. The higher court’s opinion said the denial of her rebuttal violated her right to due process. Powell and her attorneys were arguing that she was not guilty by reason of insanity.

At the trial, a defense team brought up an expert who said Powell "was suffering from a first episode of schizophrenia and a major depressive disorder, single episode, which he characterized as both severe and accompanied by psychotic features" at the time of her mother’s killing.

According to court records, Powell attended Mount Union College but was placed on academic probation following her freshman year. Her grades failed to improve her second year, so the school put her on academic suspension. Powell, however, reportedly did not inform her family or friends about the suspension, and she moved back into her residence hall after winter break "as though nothing had happened."

School officials got in touch with Powell, who initially argued she was not suspended. Later, she admitted to knowing about it, and the school gave her a timeline to move out of the dorms. Powell stayed on campus, and the associate dean told her she had to leave. She failed to move a second time, then ultimately left when school staff told her they would contact her parents. Powell reportedly stayed in hotels and went to her parents' house when they weren’t home.

On March 3, 2020, Powell’s father called the school because he could not access his parent financial portal. Mount Union told him that Powell was no longer a student, and they told him to speak with her. He saw on his phone’s location sharing that Powell was home when she shouldn’t have been. He spoke with Powell, and she reportedly "expressed frustration that her friends seemed to have figured out their lives while she had not."

Her father told Powell to talk to her mother about it. Brenda Powell drove home and phoned the dean of students and associate dean. The Mount Union officials reportedly "heard a 'thump' or a 'thud' that was 'accompanied by a pretty large scream.'"

The sound of an "expulsion of air, like the air was knocked out of somebody," went through the phone, as well as "a number of thumping sounds" for about 15 seconds. The call ended, and the deans attempted to call back. On their third try, Powell picked up the phone and sounded "very calm" but hung up when the deans called her by name. They dialed the Akron Police Department and requested a welfare check at Powell’s house.

Powell’s father received a call from a longtime friend, who is also a detective, who told him police were heading to his house. He called his daughter, who said her mother was on the phone with the school. When her father said police were on their way, Powell reportedly "lost her composure and told him that someone had broken into the house."

Police arrived and found Powell inside the house crying. Powell told responding officers that "after hearing a noise, her mother told her to leave the house." Powell had blood and cuts on her hand as well. Officers found Brenda Powell in a bedroom with a knife, skillet, and cellphone near her body.

Medics transported Powell to a hospital for evaluation, and she was charged with two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, and one count of tampering with evidence. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A jury convicted her in September 2023.

Powell could face a new trial.

For more information about the case, check out the "True Crime News" video above.

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