A Matanzas High School student accused of beating his teacher’s aide after she asked him to put away his Nintendo Switch has been sentenced to 5 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed by 15 years of supervised probation.
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18-year-old Brendan Depa’s sentence began in May but was postponed until Tuesday.
Depa pleaded no contest to an aggravated battery charge in October. He faced up to 30 years in prison.
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Depa was captured on school surveillance video in February of last year stalking and eventually beating his teacher’s aide, Joan Naydich.
You can hear Depa on the deputy’s camera footage spitting on the teacher’s aide and swearing at her after being taken into custody.
His mother, Leann Depa, who adopted Brendan with her husband when Brendan was just 5 months old, said she never wanted him in public school.
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She explained that he was placed there as a requirement of a group home where he lived. She begged the judge to let her son return home, saying she didn’t believe prison was appropriate for Brendan.
She explained that his behavioral problems had been visible since he was a baby and claims that she alerted the school about all of this.
“I told the school that hunger was a trigger, noise was a trigger, hearing was not a trigger, being corrected in front of other people was a trigger and electronics was a big trigger,” Leann Depa said.
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When sentencing began in May, state witnesses considered Depa a danger to the community.
Several doctors then said they believed he would continue to have tantrums and problems even with medication.
Depa’s former teacher aide said she wanted him to be held accountable for his actions.
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