Student with Autism Who Knocked Out Teacher Over Nintendo Switch Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
A Florida student with autism who brutally knocked out a high school teacher unconscious over his Nintendo Switch last February has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Brendan Depa, now 18, reacted with visible distress as Circuit Judge Terence Perkins delivered the sentence on Tuesday evening.
In addition to the prison term, Depa was sentenced to 15 years of probation and will be placed in a group home after his release, according to court records.
Depa was charged with felony aggravated battery causing bodily harm after he attacked paraprofessional Joan Naydich in a hallway inside Matanzas High School in Palm Coast.
The then-17-year-old, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds, was captured on security footage sprinting towards the female educator. She turned and spotted him a split-second before he shoved her to the floor.
Depa then repeatedly stomped on the unconscious paraprofessional and punched her 15 times.
Several staff members were needed to remove Depa from Naydich and restrain him.
In October, Depa pleaded no contest to the charges. An initial sentencing date, at which he faced up to 30 years in state prison, was rescheduled after Judge Perkins decided to hear from more witnesses in May.
Despite pleas from his mother and defense attorney, Depa, who has autism spectrum disorder, will serve his sentence in jail.
“They are punishing that he is black, they are punishing that he is large, and they are punishing his disability,” said the teen’s adoptive mother, Leanne Depa, after the sentencing.
“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 also criticized the school for not properly handling her son’s 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,” she said.
Depa’s attorney argued he should be tried as a juvenile since he was 17 at the time of the attack, but Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark countered that the teen had a history of violence.
Judge Perkins agreed with Clark, stating that the February 2023 attack was not an isolated incident and that Depa had numerous battery charges in the past.
Naydich alleged that Depa had previously spat in her face and called her a “whore.”
“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, who first encountered Depa in January 2022, has since developed PTSD and anxiety as a result of the attack.
“Brendan Depa’s actions that day caused me to lose a job that I had for almost 19 years, lose my financial security, and lose my health insurance,” Naydich said during a May hearing.
“Everything was taken away from me that morning. At 10 o’clock that morning, everything was taken away. My life will never be what it was before,” she added.
Depa has the right to appeal his sentence in writing but was ordered to have no contact with Naydich and to remain 500 feet away from her home and place of work.7
The 6’6” 270-pound autistic Florida teen who knocked a teacher's aid unconscious after she threatened to take his Nintendo Switch away has filed a lawsuit against the school district for “𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝… pic.twitter.com/xBh9j34PNj
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) April 27, 2024