AKRON, Ohio (Court TV) – Bodycam video has resurfaced showing then-19-year-old Sydney Powell as police dragged her out of the home where her mother lay inside, battered and bloody, on the bedroom floor. The video was ordered not to be broadcast by Court TV during Powell’s murder trial, but that order has since been lifted following her conviction.
On March 3, 2020, Akron police responded to a welfare call made by Sydney’s college administrators, who were on the phone with her mom , Brenda Powell, when Brenda was attacked.
A screenshot from police-worn body cam footage shows Sydney Powell following a brutal attack that led to the death of her mother, Brenda Powell, on March 3, 2020. (Akron Police Dept. via Court TV)
In the police video, Sydney was hysterical as she asked if her mom would be okay and cried out for her dad. When police asked her what had happened, she said, “We heard a bang…and she told me to get out. Somebody broke in.”
Blood can be seen all over Sydney’s hands, and when police asked her if she’d been cut, she replied, “I don’t think so…I was helping her.”
Police eventually sat Sydney on the ground while her meltdown ensued as she was sprawled out on the edge of her driveway.
Her father, Steve Powell, arrived on the scene after a friend notified him that police had been dispatched to his home. He frantically tried to find out what was going on and if his wife was okay. Steve informed the police that they just learned Sydney had been having problems at school and had come home that day to work it out with his wife.
At this point, Sydney had stopped communicating and became catatonic on the ground before being transported to a local hospital for minor injuries. Her mother was taken to Cleveland Clinic Akron General, where she succumbed to her injuries shortly thereafter.
Investigators quickly pieced together from the crime scene that Sydney was actually the attacker, but it would take them longer to figure out why.
Sydney Powell and her mother, Brenda Powell, embrace in a photograph provided by defense attorney Jeff Laybourne with permission from the Powell family. (Court TV)
Sydney had a secret she’d been keeping from her parents that all came to a head after her parents realized that Sydney had been unenrolled from Mount Union University in Alliance, Ohio, after failing three of her four classes in the fall semester of 2019. College administrators asked her to move out of her dorm immediately, but it wasn’t until February 24, 2020, that Sydney actually moved out, and even longer before she actually told her family and friends what had happened.
On September 7, 2023, Court TV began broadcasting the murder trial of Ohio v. Sydney Powell, who had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity . Sydney had been out on bail since her arraignment and spent the following three years of Coronavirus pandemic-related trial delays with her family.
MORE | OH v. Sydney Powell: Mother Stabbed Murder Trial – Daily Trial Highlights
The trial was marked by dramatic testimony, including that of Sydney’s father , who testified that Sydney and her mom had an extremely close and “unbreakable” relationship. Sydney’s friends testified that after her expulsion, she seemingly went to class, attended social events with her sorority, went to the mall and was “pretending” things were normal.
Defendant Sydney Powell, accused of fatally stabbing her mother, appears in court Sept. 7, 2023. (Court TV)
In addition to family and friends’ testimony, the trial turned into a battle of the experts as several psychologists for the State and the defense testified to Sydney’s mental state at the time of the murders. Prosecutors painted a picture of calculated deception, saying that not only did Sydney know what she was doing when she viciously attacked her mother as she was learning about Sydney’s expulsion, but then immediately executed a cover-up by staging a break-in and even answering one of the University’s subsequent calls following the attack, pretending to be Brenda to manage the situation.
The defense maintained that Sydney’s actions were the result of a severe psychotic episode brought on by schizophrenia and a major depressive disorder she had been diagnosed with after she killed her mother. Dr. James Reardon opined that the most relevant evidence was the attack itself, all taking place within 3.5 minutes. Reardon testified that the lack of motive, spontaneity and brutality of the attack were all factors that suggested Sydney was in the throes of a psychotic break.
On Sept. 28, 2023, after nine days of intense deliberations, the jury found Sydney guilty of all charges, including purposeful murder, felony murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
MORE | Mother Stabbed Murder Trial: Watch the Sentencing
Sydney’s family supported her throughout her trial and continues to do so as she fights for an appeal. Her defense argues in court documents that her conviction should be overturned due to the preponderance of evidence of insanity and over alleged prosecutorial misconduct by the prosecutor’s rebuttal closing arguments , where the defense’s insanity plea was reportedly referred to as “a ‘sinister scheme’ concocted by (Sydney) and her attorney.”
If Sydney’s conviction is not overturned, she will be eligible for parole in 2038 when she’s 38 years old.
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