Answering Appeal, Attorney General Says Brendan Depa’s Adult Sentence for Beating Teacher’s Aide Was Deserved

Answering the appeal of Brendant Depa’s conviction to five years in prison and 15 years on probation for assaulting his teacher’s aide at Matanzas High School in February 2023, the Attorney General’s Office in a 25-page brief argued that Circuit Judge Terence Perkins did not abuse his discretion when he imposed an adult sentence in August 2024, as the defense argued in its appeal.

Depa will be 20 in August. He had already served  25 months of his sentence in local jails by the time he was sentenced–time credited to his prison sentence–and has since served an additional 10 months of a 60-month sentence, though at the 51-month mark (in a year and four months) he may be eligible got gain time, or early release from prison for good behavior. His 15-year probation sentence would then begin. His defense team aims to relieve him of that long burden, too, not just abbreviate his prison stint. 

Assistant Attorney General Kaylee Tatman’s May 23 brief filed at the Fifth District Court of Appeal doesn’t dispute the facts of the case as presented by the defense or detailed before Perkins in a two-day sentencing hearing. (Perkins has since retired.) Rather, the brief re-emphasizes the more traumatic aspects of the testimony heard at the hearing, including Depa’s brutality during the assault and his contempt after it, to argue that the sentence is deserved. And it reasserts the prison system’s capability to treat his disorders, based on the testimony of two witnesses who spoke at length during the hearing. 

The brief, in sum, is more of a restatement of the sentencing hearing rather than a refutation of the appeal. 

The prison system, referred to as the Department of Corrections, “can treat mental disorders, intellectual disabilities, or neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism,”  the state’s answer brief states. “When asked whether DOC could treat [Depa], who had been diagnosed with autism, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, intermittent explosive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, anxiety, and depression, Dr. [Suzonne] Kline asserted that DOC could treat [Depa] Six to eight months before a sentence ends, they start programming to maximize the inmate’s chance of a successful transition.”

The brief summarizes the testimony of Joann Naydich, the teacher aide, who spoke of the severe life-altering injuries she suffered, and it describes how Depa pit at her before the assault and hurled insults at her afterward, when he was being led away from her after the beating as she lay unconscious in a Matanzas High School hallway, attended by staff. “When asked about the altercation with the victim,” the brief states, Depa “externalized the blame by blaming it on the victim’s behavior.” 

The brief goes on, frequently–if not mostly–echoing the defense’s appeal brief but for the more scabrous details of the incident and a greater emphasis on the prosecution’s exopert witness, Gregory Pritchard, a licensed psychologist, downplaying the severity of Depa’s autism and describing him as intelligent, knowing and aware of his actions.  

In her argument, Tatman said the court had all the discretion to impose a sentence anywhere from the lowest permissible and the maximum. Depa faced up to 30 years in prison for the aggravated battery on a school employee, But he could also have faced as little as probation, without prison time, had the judge sentenced him as a juvenile, and what prison sanctions he may have faced could have been limited to until he turned 21, with no probation afterward. He could also have been sentenced as a youthful offender, which would have limited his prison and probation time. 

“The nature of the event was extremely violent and aggressive,” Tatman argued, “resulting in the victim suffering five broken ribs (two of them were broken twice), a concussion, permanent hearing loss, permanent vision loss, vestibular problems, rotator cuff issues, and a herniated disc, as well as mental trauma. This was not an isolated incident.” The brief noted Depa’s prior history of two misdemeanor batteries and aggressive behavior, making him too “dangerous” to end sanctions when he turns 21. 

Depa had pleaded to the offense in hopes of mitigating the severity of the sentence. He had not been sentenced as a youthful offender previously, leaving it in Perkins’s discretion to do so. Perkins agreed that he qualified. But he said it was not “appropriate” because the attack was too violent. The attack was recorded on video surveillance cameras, because it took place outside of classrooms. 

Footage was disseminated to media and quickly circled the globe, heightening public interest (and outrage) but also–like Depa’s size and color: he is Black, his victim was white–almost unquestionably influencing the trajectory of the case, starting with the State Attorney’s decision to charge Depa as an adult. Court hearings drew large audiences and continued media attention. 

Violence against teachers and school staff is endemic. Similar cases, including in Flagler County, have wended their way through the court with less severe sanctions (including a case where a student broke a staffer’s arm at Flagler Palm Coast High School several years ago and never saw a courtroom), usually for lack of video evidence and public glare. So Depa’s fate may have been sealed well before the sentencing hearing, though Depa at times did not help his case: after the sentencing hearing, he flipped off the gallery as he was being ushered out of the courtroom.

“The trial court did not abuse its discretion in imposing adult sanctions for [Depa’s] violent and aggressive attack on the victim,” the brief argues, “especially where the court directed that [Depa] receive mental health services both while incarcerated and on probation. [Depa] is entitled to no relief.” 

There had been little question, however, that mental health services likely more rigorous and dignified than those he would receive in prison would have been part of his regimen outside of prison. “While [Depa] could voluntarily choose to receive treatment after he turned 21 and was released from [the Department of Juvenile Justice], there would be no authority that he did so.” 

Nor will there be once probation runs its course. 

The appeal court has not scheduled oral arguments in the case and may rule on a schedule entirely at its discretion. 

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