Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Brendon Michael Powell's murder sentencing was postponed due to mental competency concerns, to the shock of the victim's loved ones.
- Powell, a 26-year-old veteran, was found guilty of murder and six counts of felony discharge of a firearm in October.
- A competency review, which rarely happens after a trial, is scheduled for January 2025.
OGDEN — A sentencing hearing for a 26-year-old veteran who was found guilty of murder in October was postponed Tuesday after questions of mental competency were raised by the man's attorney.
Brendon Michael Powell shuffled into a third-floor courtroom, stealing wide-eyed glances through glasses at the packed gallery behind him. He was lean with jet-black hair and a sleeve of black Japanese-style tattoos covering his left arm.
Those in attendance expected one last opportunity to speak directly to the man who shot Royer Peña, a father of five, before Powell was sent to prison.
On Sept. 4, 2023, Powell told detectives he "heard a commotion" coming from a car in the street on the side of his house on Liberty Avenue in Ogden, "so he flew his drone around the corner ... to investigate further," according to a findings of fact document filed by state prosecutors.
The drone crashed, and Powell told detectives "he was not going to be a 'victim'" according to the filing, so he left his house with a gun to retrieve the drone. He found Peña holding the drone, according to prosecutors, and Peña "ran away from (Powell) heading south on Liberty Avenue for a brief period," before turning toward Powell "with one hand holding the drone under his arm, and one hand in his pocket," court documents say.
Powell, a Marine Corps veteran who was honorably discharged in 2022, unloaded seven rounds, each striking Peña, before calling dispatch on himself, according to the filing. "Gunshot wounds were found in his (Peña's) chest, causing injuries to his heart, left lung, large and small intestines, pelvis and ribs; his right hand, left arm, left forearm, and both thighs," according to court documents.
A jury found Powell guilty of murder and six counts of felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies, in October. But in a surprise ruling, the sentencing on Tuesday was delayed, to the dismay of family members present, over recent concerns Powell's attorney raised over the man's ability to understand the proceedings against him.
Normally, issues of competency are addressed before trial because a defendant must be able to assist in their own defense. The issue, in this case, was brought into question near the end of the proceedings. Attorney Daniel Matern, who represented Powell at the hearing Tuesday, wrote in a motion filed Nov. 15 that private conversations with Powell toward the end of his trial, along with his testimony during trial, "raised possible concerns regarding competency."
Notably, court records show that Powell replaced his attorney before the trial and was refused a request to again replace Matern with another during the trial. Matern told the court that the trial was "not a collaborative situation," and Powell must be able to assist in his own defense to be considered competent.
With those doubts raised, Matern said he enlisted the help of private investigators, who went to Weber County Jail to speak with Powell post-trial. Those investigators attempted to question Powell on Nov. 15 to "obtain actionable information ... in support of his defense," according to a sworn affidavit from one of the investigators.
Instead, they found Powell "was unable to organize his thoughts, maintain a coherent narrative, understand the identities and roles of persons involved in his case, or meaningfully assist us in his defense."
Investigators wrote that the veteran was "in turns anxious, avoidant and agitated, despite being handcuffed, belted and shackled," making them "suspect he was having a mental health episode at that point."
Powell's "words and actions," the investigators concluded, "are highly consistent" with other defendants who were found by courts to be "mentally ill and/or legally incompetent."
The state prosecution argued that Powell presented several letters of commendation from peers that show he was in good mental condition during periods of employment. One performance review from 2022 represented the man to be "mature, professional, physically fit, and tactically and technically proficient," but competency, Judge Noel Hyde reminded the court, can be a changing question of present circumstances.
According to Utah law, only a "bonafide doubt" about a defendant's competency triggers a review, so the representation from Matern and the investigators met the threshold. Powell's review is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, and Hyde assigned an alienist, or forensic evaluator, to help determine whether Powell is competent and rule out malingering (that he is pretending to be incompetent).
Depending on the results, a review could open the door to a retrial during an appeal if it can be found that Powell was incompetent to stand trial.
