Depa also received 15 years of probation upon his release and will be placed in a group home, according to court records.
He was charged with felony aggravated battery causing bodily harm after he attacked paraprofessional Joan Naydich in a hallway at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast.
At the time of the incident, the then-17-year-old, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds, was seen on security footage sprinting toward the female educator. She turns and spots him just before he shoves her to the floor.
Depa then repeatedly stomped on the unconscious paraprofessional before punching her 15 times.
Several staff members were needed to remove Depa from Naydich and restrain him on the floor.
In October, Depa pleaded no contest to the charges. His original sentencing date, which could have resulted in up to 30 years in state prison, was rescheduled after Perkins said he needed 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,” the teen’s adoptive mother, Leanne Depa, said 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.
She 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,” Leanne Depa added.
Depa’s attorney argued he should be tried as a juvenile since he attacked Naydich when he was still 17, but Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark contended the teen had a history of violence, according to WESH.
Perkins agreed with Clark’s argument, noting the February 2023 attack wasn’t an isolated incident and that Brendan Depa had numerous battery charges in the past, the outlet reported.
Naydich alleged that Depa had 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, previously said she has PTSD and suffers from anxiety because of the attack.
“Brendan Depa’s actions that day have caused me to lose a job that I had for almost 19 years, lose my financial security, lose my health insurance,” Naydich said during a May hearing.
“Everything was taken away from me that morning,” Naydich added. “At 10 o’clock that morning, everything was taken away. My life will never be what it was before.”
Depa can 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.
