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Moment 6ft 6in hulking schoolboy's adoptive mom breaks down in tears asking judge for leniency after he beat up teacher who took his Nintendo Switch amid outrage as judge gives him five years
This is the moment the adoptive mother of a 6ft 6in hulking schoolboy breaks town in tears as she is asking the judge for leniency after her son beat up a teacher who took his Nintendo Switch.
Leanne Depa, who adopted Brendan when he was five months old, started crying as she told the judge during her autistic son's sentencing hearing: 'I beg you to let him come home with me.'
Brendan Depa, who was 17 at the time, brutally tackled teacher's aide Joan Naydich, 59, in February 2023 and unleashed dozens of punches to her body and head, leaving her seriously bruised and unconscious.
Depa, who is 6ft 6ins and 270 pounds, has become a legal adult since the brutal attack he perpetrated at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida, a moderately sized town near Daytona Beach.
He could have faced a prison sentence of 30 years, but will only spend five years behind the bars of a Florida state prison, followed by 15 years of probation. Depa's sentence has caused outrage online, as people call it 'pathetic' and 'not enough'.
Leanne Depa (pictured), who adopted Brendan when he was five months old, started crying as she told the judge during her autistic son's sentencing hearing: 'I beg you to let him come home with me'
Pictured above is how Brendan Depa reacted as the judge sentenced him to five years in prison for the 2023 attack on his teacher
Depa's sentence has caused outrage online, as people call it 'pathetic' and 'not enough'
Joan Naydich, 59, the victim of Depa's brutal attack testified against him on May 1, 2024. She has always advocated for him to be locked up for the maximum amount of time, which would have been 30 years
Depa had pleaded no contest to the aggravated battery charges against him in October 2023 and was originally due to be sentenced in May 2024, but the judge delayed the hearing so he could hear from more witnesses. Depa was finally sentenced on Tuesday.
His victim, teacher Naydich, had urged the court to lock up her teenage attacker for the maximum sentence of 30 years.
But the decision from Judge Terence Perkins to give Depa 25 years less than that could have do with the exculpatory testimony that came from his mother and arguments from his defense team.
Leanne Depa told the court: 'Brendan, he has had a hard life,' adding how her son had 'felt abandoned' by her after she sent him to live in a residential treatment facility in North Carolina for a year when he was 14.
The occupational therapist also said: 'He struggles with autism and behavioural issues, but [...] I was able to manage Brandon, because I knew Brandon and I knew his triggers and I knew his needs and his strengths.'
At the residential treatment facility, Depa head-butted staff, punched a doctor and threw a chair, according to Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark.
After the facility, Depa was sent to a group home - where he had to be restrained at one point -, before returning to live with his mother and go to the public school in Palm Coast in 2021.
She said she had warned the school about her son's laundry list of triggers. According to her, 'electronics' was his biggest trigger.
'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 on the stand.
Lawyers representing him filed a separate lawsuit against the school district for negligence, wherein they described Depa as 'a ticking time bomb.'
Surveillance video shows the 6'6', 270-pound teen knocking Naydich to the ground in his special needs classroom before kneeling down and punching her in the head and back
The senseless attack happened after Depa caught wind that Naydich had tried to take his Nintendo Switch away
Leann Depa, Brendan Depa's adoptive mother, was seen in court Tuesday reacting with tears to her son's five year sentence
On the day of the attack, Naydich requested another teacher take away Depa's gaming console, a Nintendo Switch.
When Depa found out, he allegedly called her a b**ch and a w**re and spat at her as she left the classroom.
That's when a school surveillance camera captured him following her out and ramming into her, sending her tumbling to the ground.
Naydich was completely limp after she was knocked to the floor, but a rage-filled Depa didn't quit, punching her in the head and back 15 times.
Her injuries included five broken ribs, a concussion and a loss of hearing. Pictures released after the beatdown show gashes on the aide's cheek, bruising around the eyes, one blood shot eye, a dent in her nose and a tear at the back of her ear.
Naydich, a mother of two, told the court: 'Brendan Depa's actions that day has caused me to lose a job that I had for almost 19 years, lose my financial security, lose my health insurance.'
She's also filed a permanent injunction against Depa preventing him from ever coming within 500 feet of her home or place of work.
Naydich's injuries were serious, including five broken ribs, a concussion and a loss of hearing
She has said her life will never be the same after the attack. She's also filed a permanent injunction against Depa preventing him from ever coming within 500 feet of her home or place of work
More than a year later, she still suffers from hearing loss, slowed speech and delayed cognitive functioning
Naydich (pictured with her son) said Depa's attack caused her to lose her job of nearly 19 years
The Rhode Island native, pictured with her two children, moved to Palm Coast and worked in the Flagler County School District starting in 2003
Naydich said the worst injuries are internal and that the attack deeply affected her cognitive functions.
'Unfortunately, a lot of my injuries that are not visible I'm going to have for the rest of my life,' she said.
Naydich, who was sitting in the gallery at Depa's sentencing, told the court in the hearing in May: 'There are consequences in life to bad actions, bad choices. He made that choice that day to come after me.'
Depa's attorneys tried to turn it around on her, claiming that Naydich failed to address the autistic boy's unique needs and wasn't properly trained to handle him.
Kurt Teifke, one of Depa's lawyers, reportedly referred back to prior testimony that suggested the assault was a manifestation of his disability.
'It's not his fault,' Teifke said.
Judge Perkins didn't buy it, citing the brutality captured in the video and adding that Depa's attack on Naydich was not an isolated incident.
'It captures the senseless, extreme violence in a very troubling way,' Perkins said, commenting on the video.
In his sentencing, Perkins also cited testimony from a state witness, a psychologist, who said Depa knew what he did was wrong, and that Depa did not express remorse at any point.
Depa's mother pleaded with the judge to let her son serve house arrest, telling him: 'I think he needs help, and I think he needs treatment.'
But Depa was sentenced to five years in state prison as well as 15 years of supervised probation.
Brendan Depa, who pleaded no contest to charges related to assaulting a teacher's aide, is photographed in court Tuesday during his sentencing hearing
On X, users voiced their frustrations over Depa's sentence, with one saying that it 'should be at least 10', while another said Depa battering his teacher was 'attempted murder'
Judge Perkins also ordered that the Florida Department of Corrections conduct a full mental health evaluation of Depa and develop a treatment plan for his disabilities, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
After her son was sent to prison, Leanne Depa told reporters he is being punished for being black, for being large and for being disabled.
While his mother had hoped for her son not serving any prison time, the public is outraged at him not being incarcerated for more than five years.
On X, users voiced their frustrations over Depa's sentence, with one saying that it 'should be at least 10', while another said Depa battering his teacher was 'attempted murder'.
'That was a brutal beating. He got off easy with just five years but I bet with a temper like he has he will end up violating that parole and be sent back to prison,' a third person said.