Ex-student Sydney Powell, 23, is found guilty despite her dad's pleas of mom Brenda's murder by stab

A FORMER college student has been found guilty of stabbing her mother to death after her lawyers argued that she had a psychotic break during the murder. During a 12-day trial, jurors listened to testimony from family and experts as Sydney Powell, 23, from Akron, Ohio, stood accused of killing her mom, Brenda Powell.

A FORMER college student has been found guilty of stabbing her mother to death after her lawyers argued that she had a psychotic break during the murder.

During a 12-day trial, jurors listened to testimony from family and experts as Sydney Powell, 23, from Akron, Ohio, stood accused of killing her mom, Brenda Powell.

Powell opening sobbed at the Summit County Common Pleas courtroom as the verdicts were read.

She was found guilty on two counts of murder, along with felonious assault, and tampering with evidence.

In March 2020, when Sydney was 19 years old, she stabbed her mom over 20 times after getting into an argument.

Ahead of the trial, Powell entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

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Her defense attorney argued that Sydney was suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia during the time of Brenda's murder and had a psychotic break.

Dr. James Reardon diagnosed Powell with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder after evaluating her in the fall of 2021, according to court testimony.

But Reardon noted that it is rare for people with schizophrenia to act out violently.

Throughout the trial, both sides raised the question of whether Powell was exaggerating her illness to escape responsibility, commonly known as malingering.

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Dr. Robin Belcher-Timme, who was called up by the defense, said that he did not believe Powell was malingering after conducting multiple tests.

However, in a rebuttal from the prosecution, Dr. Silvia O'Bradovich said that after interviewing Sydney, she came to the conclusion that she was, in fact, Malingering and noted that the defense experts' tests were not accurate since they were conducted years after the crime.

Sydney's family has stood by her since before the trial.

Her father, Steven Powell, pleaded with prosecutors during Sydney's pretrial to not pursue the murder charges against his daughter.

"I don’t know why we’re doing this," he said.

"This isn’t what anyone wants here. I don’t know how she can handle it. I don’t know how I can handle it. I’m trying to keep my family together."

Sydney has been living with her grandparents, and her grandmother, Elizabeth, came to her defense during the trial.

Elizabeth testified that Sydney got better after being on medication for a few months.

BRENDA POWELL'S DEATH

On March 3, 2020, police found Brenda Powell wounded during a welfare check that was requested by officials at the University of Mount Union in Akron, who heard repeated thuds and screaming while on the phone with her.

Sydney was a former student at the University of Mount Union.

However, it was revealed during her trial that she was no longer attending the school at the time of the murder.

Akron Police Lieutenant David Whiddon took the stand and claimed that he found out, while looking through her phone, that Sydney was not a student anymore after being placed on academic probation.

“You could tell by a lot of the messages that you know, she had not told her family, that her mom wasn't aware of this,” Whiddon said.

Prosecutors claimed that Sydney lied to police and her father that there was a break-in at the house.

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Body cam footage showed Sydney telling police at the scene that there was a noise and her mother told her to run.

She reportedly said that when she heard screaming she came back into the house and found Brenda on the floor.

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