Sydney Powell was not insane when she killed her mother, prosecution expert says

Sydney Powell was sane when she murdered her mother, a medical expert for the prosecution testified Monday.

Powell was not in a fully-blown psychosis with moments of lucidity in the week leading to killing her mother and after, as three defense medical experts testified last week, Sylvia O'Bradovich of Summit Psychological Associates in Akron said.

Powell is on trial in Summit County Judge Kelly McLaughlin’s court for stabbing her mother, Brenda Powell, with a steak knife and beating her with a cast-iron skillet in March 2020.

Sydney Powell has flashes of the day she killed her mother, a psychologist who evaluated Powell testified Wednesday.

Defense expert James Reardon testified during Sydney’s murder trial that she suffered a psychotic break when she killed her mother. He was one of three defense experts who evaluated Sydney and diagnosed her with schizophrenia. They found that, because of this mental disorder, she didn’t understand the wrongfulness of her actions when she killed her mother.

O’Bradovich, a fourth expert who was hired by prosecutors, however, found that Sydney was sane at the time of the slaying.

Sydney, 23, is charged with two counts of murder — one that means purposely causing a death and the other that involves causing a death as the result of a felonious assault, as well as felonious assault and tampering with evidence.

O’Bradovich was the last testimony on Monday before both sides presented their closing arguments. The jury now has the case.

Jurors have three potential verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

Powell did not meet requirement of legal insanity, expert says

In her testimony, O’Bradovich said she did not agree with the multiple defense experts’ diagnoses, including that Powell was in a lost week in the days leading up to her mother’s death.

O’Bradovich said Powell did not meet the requirement of legal insanity at the time of the crime. O’Bradovich said Powell does have mental health issues, including borderline personality traits, malingering and an unspecified anxiety disorder.

O’Bradovich said she disagreed with Reardon and the other two defense experts’ opinions, who said Sydney lost touch with reality.

“If somebody is in a full-blown psychotic state and disconnected from reality, they can’t magically turn it off temporarily. You either are or you’re not,” O’Bradovich said.

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Brian Stano asked O’Bradovich about the “lost week” that the defense says was part of Powell's downward spiral in the months and days leading up to her mother’s death.

O’Bradovich testified that she researched nearly 10,000 pages of cellphone records, which include text messages, Internet searches and social media searches to determine Powell’s mental state in the days leading up to killing.

Powell was doing searches about makeup, actors, movies or TV shows. She was playing a pool game on her cellphone with a friend. She gave her mom a Gmail address, saying she doesn’t use her school email address much.

“We know she’s not in school. She’s searching knock knock jokes,” said O’Bradovich  “She was acting like a typical 18-year-old.”

Powell had also gone to a TV viewing party of "The Bachelor" with friends on the night before her mother’s death.

Earlier, on Feb. 26, Powell was also searching Star Wars, Dunkin Donuts and texting with her friend and mom. She also searched food at Hibachi Express, O’Bradovich said. Powell was also accessing the WiFi at the Comfort Inn and telling Brenda that she’d be home March 4 after classes were over.

O’Bradovich said when someone is entering a psychotic episode, there usually are signs that include sleep disturbance, becoming totally withdrawn and not interacting with people and saying and doing things that don’t make sense.

“I looked through everything to try to find evidence of that and there wasn’t any,” she said.

Stano showed an edited video of Powell at various points after her mother’s death. They included her laying on the ground and slowly hitting her head against the driveway and clawing at the ground. Several clips showed her staring off to the side or ahead in the ambulance or at the hospital.

Powell was in a state of shock, not catatonic after crime, expert says

Defense witnesses have said they show Powell was in a catatonic state.

Stano asked O’Bradovich if she thought they showed Powell was suffering from catatonia.

More: Sydney Powell was ‘out of touch with reality’ when she killed her mother, expert says

“I do not,” O’Bradovich said. “I think it’s mostly reflective of shock and a trauma response caused by actions she just engaged in.”

Prosecutors say lies Powell had been trying to cover up for months — that she was expelled from college – caught up to her when she was called home and her mother was on the phone with Mount Union officials.

Prosecutors say Powell broke a window after the attack and told police officers that there had been a break-in to cover up the crime.

Stano asked O’Bradovich if Powell asking police if her mom was OK was exhibiting signs of empathy and showing signs of someone in a psychotic break.

“It is consistent with someone in touch with reality and aware of what’s going on,” O’Bradovich said.

Minutes later, prosecutors said, Powell asked for her dad and later displayed the catatonic symptoms.

In closing remarks, defense attorney Donald Malarcik asked jurors to weigh the evaluations of three experts with a combined 50 years of experience versus a psychologist who was testifying for the first time in a trial weighing insanity as a reason for the crime. Before O’Bradovich testified, Malarcik went over her credentials and tried to get her removed as an expert witness. The judge overruled the objection.

O’Bradovich said the tests and evaluations that the three defense experts used — some years after the crime —could not determine Powell’s sanity at the time of the crime.

O’Bradovich said she is not disputing that Powell may have mental-health disorder diagnoses, but said the large battery of tests given to Powell by the three defense experts were not a good indication to prove her mental health state at the time of the crime.

“If I was here today to speak about how Sydney Powell was doing today, all of the tests you mentioned would be a great tool,” she said. “Those tests do not apply two years ago. It is the same reason your doctor wants updated blood work.”

Powell was trying to cover up lies, prosecutor says

In final prosecution remarks, Stano said Powell was not insane.

“Sydney stopped attacking with the pan, presumably went to the kitchen with a knife. She had to switch weapons and keep attacking her.

“Just the knife just in the neck multiple times? That is purposeful. That is trying to end someone,” Stano said.

Malarcik said the prosecution wants jurors to believe that Sydney fooled multiple medical experts and others, saying she had to be Meryl Streep, Sigmund Freud and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, referring to an actor, mental health expert and legal expert.

Stano said the defense was attacking O’Bradovich’s testimony so hard because “she’s the only expert who looked at the evidence.”

Not every brutal crime is due to insanity, Stano said.

“If Sydney was on the verge of a psychotic break,” Stano said, “she had 45 minutes with Brenda. Why not kill her in those 45 minutes? She only attacks her when she’s on the phone with Mount Union: right when her secrets are about to be discovered. I submit to you, that’s when that happened. I don’t even think in that moment she wanted her mother dead. She just wanted to prevent her secret from coming out.”

Staff writer Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Sydney Powell was sane when she killed her mother, expert says