FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — 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 sentencing began in May but was postponed until Tuesday.
Depa pleaded no contest to an aggravated battery charge in October. He was facing up to 30 years in prison.
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Depa was captured on school surveillance video in February of last year chasing after and eventually beating his teacher’s aide Joan Naydich.
You can hear Depa in deputy body camera footage spitting at the teacher’s aide and cussing 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 he was living in. She pleaded with the judge to let her son come home, saying she did not believe jail was appropriate for Brendan.
She explained his behavioral issues were visible even as a baby, and she claims she made the school aware of all of this.
“I had told the school being hungry was a trigger, noise was a trigger, being told no was a trigger, being corrected in front of other people was a trigger and electronics were a big trigger,” said Leann Depa.
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When sentencing began back in May, state’s witnesses called Depa a danger to the community.
Multiple doctors said then that they believed he would continue to have outbursts and issues even with medication.
Depa’s former teacher’s aide said she wanted him to be held accountable for his actions.
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