Florida teacher beaten by student wants max term for teen attacker while supporters lobby for mercy

No matter his ruling later this month, Florida Judge Terence Perkins will likely face outrage.

The veteran Flagler County official has been thrust into the national spotlight over the polarizing case of Brendan Depa, an autistic teen student who viciously battered his teacher unconscious last February over a Nintendo Switch.

Perkins will sentence Depa on Jan. 31 — and can impose a term as mild as probation or as severe as 30 years behind bars.

The 270-pound teen’s victim, Joan Naydich, has never wavered in calling for the maximum term — and reiterated that position in an exclusive interview with The Post this week.

The mother of two suffered five broken ribs and a concussion in the attack, and continues to grapple with vision and hearing complications.

“He definitely needs to be in jail,” Naydich said, noting that she has lost her income, health insurance and benefits in the wake of the viral beating. “He needs to be in jail for what he did to me. I’m in my own jail of sorts every single day I wake up.”

But Depa’s adoptive mother, Leanne Depa, told The Post this week that her son has already been behind bars for nearly a year since the assault — and that additional time in unmerited.

“This should never have been a criminal case,” she asserted, arguing that his actions stemmed directly from his disabilities and were ignited by deviations from his school-approved treatment plan.

“I’m not blaming Joan,” she said. “In no way do I blame Joan for what happened. I blame the district. It’s a systemic problem. There is not enough funding and there’s a shortage of paraprofessionals.”

The pediatric occupational therapist, who lives near Tampa, said she adopted Depa when he was just six months old.

The tot first showed signs of behavioral problems in kindergarten, throwing tantrums that resulted in repeated calls home from his teacher.

Leanne decided to home-school him, supplementing his education with some co-op classes with other children for certain subjects.

“There were some meltdowns at home, but overall it went okay,” she said, adding that she and her husband declined to put him on medication at the time. “We were managing it.”

But Depa’s state worsened around age 14, with his tantrums becoming increasingly intense and sometimes violent.

Exasperated and simultaneously besieged with other family health crises, his mother decided to try some of the recommended medications to contain his outbursts.

But his condition only worsened with the new substances coursing through his brain.

“It became a nightmare,” she said, recalling that Depa would sometimes wrap a towel around his head to protect himself from phantom flies and insects.

He grew increasingly unpredictable, and the family was compelled to call the police on several occasions.

With the situation now unmanageable, Depa placed him in an autism hospital in South Carolina in late 2019. Long averse to crowded settings and commotion, Depa struggled to adapt to his surroundings.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic precluded visits, deepening his isolation and frustration, Leanne said. The fights and violence continued to flare.

He was ultimately discharged from the facility, but Depa was again reluctant to introduce him back into her home. Her husband was having serious heart issues at the time, and their son’s unpredictability made him a potentially lethal liability.

They eventually placed him into a Palm Coast group home in November 2020, where Depa was able to have his own room, television and gaming device. While still prone to hyper-emotional episodes, he seemed to stabilize.

Depa said she was opposed to sending Depa to a traditional public school, but that the home had final say. The teen ended up at Matanzas High School and was assigned to a special education class.

Together with his family, school officials devised an Individual Education Plan for Depa that would address his needs.

Naydich first began working with him as a paraprofessional in February of 2022, assisting his main teacher.

Roughly a year later, he would assault her after a dispute over his use of a Nintendo Switch.

In February, she escorted Depa to his lone general class, a cyber security course.

A substitute teacher grew irritated after Depa repeatedly pulled out his gaming device, prompting Naydich to text his main teacher that bringing the Switch to other classes wasn’t prudent.

When they returned to Depa’s regular special education classroom, his teacher brought up the issue — enraging the teen and setting off the assault.

Leanne said his IEP mandated that he shouldn’t have electronic devices at all because he would rage whenever they were taken away.

She also argued that his plan advised against discussing his behavioral issues in group settings.

“Once it was escalated to that point, his ability to rein it in was the issue,” she said, saying “gaps in training” contributed to the chain of events preceding the attack.

Naydich said this week that Depa’s supporters — including his mother — were overstating his limitations and inability to comprehend his actions.

“He’s not autistic like everybody believes he is,” she said. “They are painting a picture of him that he’s not able to think for himself. He’s working on his GED in jail and he almost has it…His mother has painted a picture of him that he’s incapable of putting socks on.”

Leanne maintained that Depa’s advanced verbal skills masked the severity of his autism.

Several speakers are slated to speak on behalf of both Naydich and Depa at the sentencing prior to Perkins’ decision.