Florida student sentenced for attacking teaching assistant, after multiple previous arrests for violent behavior.
By Eileen Griffin
A violent teenager was given a 5-year prison sentence after the victim requested a 30-year term.
The high school student at Matanzas High School who attacked a teaching assistant in February of this year has been sentenced to 5 years in prison and 15 years of probation, WWMT reports. He will be sent to a group home for supervision during his probation.
In February 2023, student Brendan Depa violently attacked Joan Naydich, a 59-year-old teaching assistant, as Heartland Daily News reported at the time. The student became enraged when the teaching assistant took his Nintendo Switch away because he was not allowed to use it during class.
The video of the beating posted on X shows a petite Naydich being thrown to the ground, stomped, and punched. The 6-foot 6-inch, 270-pound teenage boy continues beating her until several school staff dragged him off of her.
Naydich suffered a concussion, hearing loss, and broken ribs. At the hearing, Naydich told the court that she is unlikely to ever fully recover from the attack, the Daily Mail reports.
“’Every day is a challenge,” Naydich said. “I have lived every day since with the repercussions of it, the assault of it, whether it be hearing loss that I have, vision loss, headaches.”
Naydich asked for a 30-year sentence for the teenager, but the judge declined to give Depa a longer sentence because his mental health professionals and his mother blamed the school for not recognizing his “triggers.”
Depa had been arrested three previous times, News 24 Live reports. Due to his extensive history of violence, he was charged as an adult despite his attorney’s request that he be tried as a juvenile.
Judge Terrence Perkins said his decision was based on the fact that Depa had numerous battery charges in the past, NBC reports. Perkins also noted that Depa showed no remorse during any of the court proceedings.
During the trial, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark questioned psychologists about Depa’s previous history of violence, The Daytona Beach News Journal reports.
Records presented by Clark show that Depa head-butted staff, punched a doctor, and thew a chair when he was previously in a care facility in North Carolina.
At another group home where Depa was supposed to get treatment, he ripped off a door and charged at staff. He got into fights. No improvement in his behavior was noted.
One of Depa’s lawyers, Kurt Teifke, attempted to redirect blame from his client to the teaching assistant. After watching the video, Judge Perkins could not accept that excuse given the violent brutality.
“Compounding the senseless physical violence was the screaming of obscenities, spitting on Ms. Naydich both before and during the incident,” Perkins said at the sentencing.
“He pursued her down the hallway, pushed her so violently from behind that she flew through the air and was knocked unconscious when she landed in the hallway floor. He then proceeded to kick her, then jump on top of her, striking her in the head and body more than 15 times,” Perkins said.
“They are punishing that he is black,” Depa’s mother, Leanne Depa, told NBC. “They are punishing that he is large, and they are punishing his disability.”
A Go-Fund-Me page has been set up to support Naydich, who is a single mother with two children. Several donors identify themselves as teachers. Some donations are as little as $5.00.
“Joan is humble, never asks for help and needs our love/support during this difficult time,” the web page states. “I’ve asked her to allow us to do this so that she can rest, heal and spend time with her kids without worrying about financial concerns right now.”
Campaign organizer, Jessica White Leon, wrote an update after Depa was sentenced to five years.
“Going into this school year, EVERY district employee (admin to janitorial) should listen to the truth revealed that Joan Naydich did NOT remove the device and her only communication was a private text to the teacher about her concerns,” Leon writes. “Then reflect on your role in education and realize this could have been YOU!”
“I saw the video and it just made me sick,” donor Blake Livengood writes. “Our country is becoming something out of a horror movie. Good luck to you.”
“I am a Corrections Officer in Florida, and I strongly encourage you to be relentless in pursuing the MAX punishment for the ‘child’ who put you in this predicament,” donor Curt Vigneri writes. “This monster is not redeemable.”
“My whole family works in the education system,” donor Jeffrey Guida writes. “My wife has been to the EMERGENCY ROOM 4 times in last 7 years. What is happening??”
“To think that they left me for dead,” Naydich says in a video posted on X. “They let him come at me multiple times. They didn’t render me any aid, any protection. Flagler schools and Flagler County Sheriffs failed me that day.”
“He definitely needs to be in jail. He needs to be in jail for what he did to me.”
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