Sydney Powell was 'out of touch with reality' when she killed her mother, expert says

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

She remembers sitting on the couch next to her mother.

She remembers crying.

She remembers feeling the need to get away and going down the basement steps and back up.

She also remembers voices in her head saying, “Loser,” “Worthless,” and “Kill yourself.”

The next thing Sydney remembers, psychologist James Reardon said, is waking up in the hospital.

Reardon testified during Sydney’s murder trial that she suffered a psychotic break when she killed her mother Brenda Powell in March 2020 by stabbing her with a steak knife and beating her with a cast-iron skillet.

“This was something so far out of the spectrum of normalcy for her, it’s like this blip in the pathway of her lifetime,” Reardon said.

Reardon is the 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.

A fourth expert, though, who was hired by prosecutors, 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.

Her trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kelly McLaughlin’s courtroom is being tried in two parts, with the first featuring prosecutors providing evidence of the slaying. The second part, which began Wednesday, focuses on Powell’s insanity defense.

More: 'This goes against anything Brenda would want': Dad begs not to try daughter for mom's death

The trial is expected to last through Monday, with jurors then choosing between three verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense witnesses Wednesday began to paint a picture of the downward mental spiral in Sydney’s life that culminated with her taking the life of the person in the world she loved most.

Sydney and her mother were close, maternal grandmother says

Betsy Brown, Sydney’s maternal grandmother, said Brenda and Sydney were close, with Brenda going to all of Sydney’s soccer games at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and the two of them often doing fun things, like shopping.

“It was just always Sydney and Brenda,” Brown said.

Brown said Sydney was a good student and never got into any trouble. She said she never saw Sydney argue or fight with Brenda or anyone else.

Brown said she talked to Brenda on the morning she was killed and she was excited about Sydney coming home from Mount Union University for her spring break. She said Brenda wasn’t aware that Sydney had been kicked out because of poor grades, a secret she was keeping from her family and friends.

“She did know something was going on with Sydney,” Brown said.

After the murder, Brown said she and others in the family were supportive of Sydney being released on bond, first to undergo psychiatric treatment and then to live with Brown on her 100-acre farm.

In the time since then, Brown said Sydney has been under the care of a psychiatrist and counselor and has been taking her prescribed medication.

“Have you seen signs of mental health issues with Sydney?” Don Malarcik, Sydney’s attorney, asked.

“Yes,” Brown said.

“Do you believe Sydney would kill Brenda because she was suspended?” Malarcik asked.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian Stano objected and McLaughlin sustained his objection, which meant Brown wasn’t permitted to respond.

Sydney’s friend recalls periods of withdrawal and vivid dreams

Amanda Brown, a friend of Sydney’s in both high school and college, testified that Sydney would at times become more withdrawn and less social.

Brown said Sydney also would sometimes have very vivid dreams, whether at night or during the day, that would scare her.

The two of them started at Mount Union in the fall of 2018. Brown said Sydney did well at first, but, like in high school, became more withdrawn and got to the point where she was mostly staying in her dorm room.

Brown said she knew Sydney had difficult classes but was unaware of how much she was struggling.

Stano asked Brown if she was ever concerned enough about Sydney that she alerted a resident adviser or called Brenda, Sydney’s mother. Brown said she did not.

Stano asked Brown if Sydney was so close to her family that she wouldn’t want to disappoint them.

“Correct,” Brown said.

Psychologist says Sydney lost touch with reality

Reardon, who has been a psychologist since 1977, evaluated Powell in the fall of 2021.

Reardon said he reviewed numerous records, administered four psychological tests and interviewed Sydney.

Reardon said he determined that Sydney doesn’t have a severe mental defect, like a developmental disability. He said he found, though, that Sydney has schizophrenia and a major depressive disorder.

When Powell killed her mother, Reardon said she was “out of touch with reality.”

Reardon said Sydney’s mental state deteriorated rapidly beginning in December 2019 after she learned that she had been suspended from Mount Union. He said she continued to return to campus, though she was no longer enrolled, and tried to pretend that everything was OK.

“Failing was not an option in her mind,” he said. “It was inconsistent with her picture of herself.”

In late February, after Mount Union officials told Sydney she could no longer stay on campus, Sydney spent a week in hotels or living in her car. At times, Reardon said, she didn’t know where she was.

“There was reality and then there was Sydney’s reality,” he said. “She wasn’t seeing elephants floating around the room or swatting at flies that were not there. She was in the throes of a major psychotic decompensation.”

Malarcik played a snippets of officer’s body-worn camera videos from after Brenda’s slaying that show Sydney laying on her driveway, hitting her head and clawing at the asphalt, with her eyes rolled into the back of her head. An officer put a blanket over Sydney and put her on the stretcher in an ambulance, where she stared straight ahead during the ride to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Sydney laid in bed, again staring and not responding to a detective’s questions.

Reardon said Sydney was in a catatonic state, which can happen after an acute psychotic episode.

“It’s like there’s nobody home,” he said. “She’s gone — completely lost awareness. She’s just a shell.”

Sydney wasn’t faking her symptoms, psychologist says

Malarcik asked Reardon if the brutality of the attack on Brenda helps demonstrate Sydney’s mental state at the time.

“It demonstrates, in my mind, the incredible magnitude of the loss of reality and the loss of the ability to engage in any reasoning or conscious thought during those moments,” Reardon said.

Malarick asked Reardon if he found any evidence that Sydney was malingering or exaggerating her condition.

“There was literally no evidence of malingering and significant evidence indicated she was being truthful,” he said. “She was not exaggerating.”

Malarcik asked how Sydney’s case compares to other criminal cases Reardon has handled.

“This is one of the most severe cases I have been involved with in my 45 to 46 years,” he said

Two other psychologists who evaluated Powell and reached similar conclusions to Reardon will testify Thursday and Friday. The prosecution’s expert will take the stand Monday.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Sydney Powell had a psychotic break, psychologist testifies