Brenda Powell Case: Trial, Reversal, and Ohio Supreme Court

The Brenda Powell case is the 2020 killing of a 50-year-old Akron Children’s Hospital child life specialist by her 19-year-old daughter, Sydney Powell, inside the family’s Akron, Ohio home, after Brenda learned her daughter had been secretly suspended from college. Sydney was convicted of murder in 2023 and sentenced to 15 years to life. A state appeals court threw out that conviction in December 2024, and the Ohio Supreme Court heard argument in January 2026 on whether to reinstate it.

Who Brenda Powell Was and What Set Off March 3, 2020

Brenda Powell had worked for nearly 30 years as a child life specialist at Akron Children’s Hospital’s Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders.¹ Her husband, Steven, described her relationship with Sydney as very close.

Sydney had enrolled at the University of Mount Union out of high school, landed on academic probation after her first year, and was suspended for failing grades after the fall semester of her second year. She hid the suspension from her parents. She returned to campus in January, moved back into her residence hall, and kept up the appearance of being enrolled until a sorority president noticed her name missing from a membership roster and administrators tracked her down. Even after being confronted, Sydney refused to let the school call her parents. She moved out of the dorm, stayed in local hotels, and visited home only when her parents were away.²

The morning of March 3, 2020, Mount Union called Steven Powell and told him Sydney was no longer enrolled. That afternoon, Dean of Students John Frazier and Associate Dean Michelle Gaffney called Brenda to discuss it.

The Killing

Brenda had barely spoken when the deans heard a loud thud over the phone and what Frazier described as “a guttural noise or an exhale,” as though the phone had been dropped.³ What followed was roughly 15 seconds of repeated thumping, screaming, and crying. Gaffney testified she heard six or seven of those thudding sounds.⁴

Frazier and Gaffney called back. On the third try someone picked up and said she was Brenda. Both officials recognized the voice as Sydney’s. When Frazier said he knew it was not Brenda, the line went dead. They called Akron police for a welfare check.⁴

Officers found Sydney outside the house, hands bleeding, telling them a stranger had broken in. Inside a bedroom, Brenda lay face-up on the floor. A cast-iron skillet, a knife, and a cellphone were near her body.² Prosecutors established at least 23 stab wounds, most of them to the neck, along with multiple blunt-force injuries. The attack lasted about three and a half minutes.¹

The Charges and the Insanity Defense

Sydney was held for psychiatric evaluation until March 16, 2020, then charged with two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, and one count of tampering with evidence.² She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Under Ohio law, a defendant claiming insanity must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a severe mental disease or defect kept her from knowing her actions were wrong at the time of the offense. An inability to control an impulse, standing alone, is not enough.⁵

The 2023 Trial

The case was tried in Summit County Common Pleas Court before Judge Kelly McLaughlin in September 2023. Sydney never denied killing her mother. Everything came down to her mental state.⁶

Defense attorney Don Malarcik called three forensic psychologists. Dr. James Reardon diagnosed a first episode of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder with psychotic features, calling it one of the most severe cases he had seen in more than 40 years of practice. Dr. Thomas Swales diagnosed a first episode of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Dr. Robin Belcher-Timme diagnosed a first episode of schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. All three used standardized instruments, including the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test, and each concluded Sydney could not appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions at the time of the killing.²

The state called one expert, clinical psychologist Dr. Sylvia O’Bradovich of Summit Psychological Associates. It was her first time testifying in a case involving an insanity defense, and the defense tried unsuccessfully to disqualify her on that ground.⁷ She had interviewed Sydney for two hours and reviewed nearly 10,000 pages of phone records, texts, internet searches, and social media activity. She gave no formal psychological tests, arguing that assessments administered years after a crime are irrelevant to the defendant’s mental state at the time.² She concluded Sydney was malingering, diagnosed borderline personality traits and an unspecified anxiety disorder, and pointed to phone activity in the days before the killing (searches about makeup and movies, mobile games) as inconsistent with a psychotic state. She also said she saw none of the sleep disturbance or social withdrawal that usually precedes such an episode.

After O’Bradovich testified, the defense asked to recall its psychologists to answer what it called new critiques of their methods, raised for the first time on the stand. Judge McLaughlin refused, telling the defense: “You have had lots and lots and lots of expert testimony in this matter.”⁸ That ruling became the fight on appeal.

After nine hours and 23 minutes of deliberation, jurors rejected the insanity defense and convicted Sydney on all counts.¹ On September 28, 2023, Judge McLaughlin sentenced her to 15 years to life, with parole eligibility after 15 years.⁴

The Reversal on Appeal

Represented on appeal by Daniel Eisenbrei, Sydney challenged Judge McLaughlin’s refusal to allow her experts back on the stand. In December 2024, Ohio’s Ninth District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court found that O’Bradovich’s testimony had introduced new facts and a pointed critique of the defense experts’ methodology that were not in her pretrial report and had not been addressed during the defense’s case. Sydney, the court held, had an unconditional right to present rebuttal testimony on those new points, and denying it was reversible error.²

Where the Case Stands at the Ohio Supreme Court

Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich’s office appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which accepted the case and heard oral argument on January 7, 2026.⁹

The prosecution argues that criminal defendants have no unconditional right to sur-rebuttal, that the trial judge properly cut off what she saw as cumulative expert testimony, and that the appellate court should have asked whether any error was harmless before throwing out the verdict. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Rick Raley warned that affirming the Ninth District would create “an endless loop of rebuttal and sur-rebuttal” and rewrite trial procedure across the state. Eisenbrei counters that the state’s own expert introduced entirely new opinions for the first time during rebuttal, that those opinions struck at the heart of the insanity defense, and that shutting the defense out created an unfair battle of the experts that tainted the trial.¹⁰

As of mid-2026, the court had not ruled. If it sides with the state, Sydney Powell’s conviction and sentence of 15 years to life are reinstated. If it sides with the defense, the case goes back to Summit County for a new trial.¹⁰

1
Court TV. OH v. Sydney Powell Mother Stabbed Murder Trial
2
Supreme Court of Ohio. State v. Powell, 2024-Ohio-6013
3
Supreme Court of Ohio. State v. Powell, Memorandum in Support of Jurisdiction
4
NBC News. Ohio Woman Fatally Stabbed Mother After College Suspension
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Section 2945.391
6
Cleveland 19. Sentencing for Akron Daughter Convicted of Killing Mom
7
Akron Beacon Journal. Sydney Powell Was Sane When She Killed Her Mother, Expert Says
8
Court TV. Sydney Powell Convicted of Killing Mom Claims Prosecutorial Misconduct
9
Court News Ohio. Cases for January 7
10
Akron Beacon Journal. Ohio Supreme Court To Hear Arguments in Sydney Powell Murder Case