Florida Teenager SENTENCED To Five Years For Brutally Attacking Teacher At School

Daily Report August 07,2024

A Florida teenager who brutally attacked a high school teacher for his Nintendo Switch in February will spend the next five years of his life behind bars.

As Circuit Judge Terence Perkins delivered the sentence Tuesday evening, Brendan Depa — now 18 years old — visibly reacted by throwing his head back.

Court records also indicated that after serving his prison sentence, Depa will be on probation for 15 years and in a group home.

Depa had been charged with felony aggravated battery bodily harm after he attacked paraprofessional Joan Naydich at Matanzas High School.

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Depa, then a 17-year-old who stood at 6-foot-6 and weighed over 270 pounds, can be seen on security video rushing up towards Naydich in the instant. She twisted and saw him before he knocked her to the ground.

He subsequently stomped on the paraprofessional as she lay unconscious and pummeled her 15 times.

Depa was then pulled away from Naydich by several staff members and put onto the ground to be restrained.

Depa pleaded no contest to the charges in October. Judge Perkins delayed his initial sentencing date to talk with more witnesses in May. At the time, Depa was looking at up to as many as 30 years in state prison.

Depa, who has autism spectrum disorder, pleaded guilty in a case that saw his mother and defense attorney beg for him not to be sent to jail.

After sentencing, his adoptive mother Leanne Depa said: “They are punishing that he is black, they are punishing that he is large and they are punishing his disability.”

“I think he needs help, and I think he needs treatment. But I don’t think he needs to be put away in a prison where he’s going to be taken advantage of or harmed,” she added, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Leanne Depa said the school didn’t do enough to assist her son, who also has disabilities.

“I had told the school that being hungry was a trigger, that noise was a trigger, that being told ‘no’ was a trigger, that being corrected in front of other people was a trigger, and electronics was a huge trigger,” Leann Depa added.

Depa’s defense attorney said because he was 17 during the attack, Depa should have been tried as a juvenile but Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark claimed that the teen had previously committed violence.

“The last thing I remember is having my hand on the door handle,” Naydich told The Post in January. “I don’t remember anything [else] until 3:30 p.m. when I came to. And at that point I was in the ER and my son and daughter were standing there.”

Naydich said she also met Depa for the first time in January 2022, and that she still has PTSD and assault-related anxiety.