'Everything was taken away from me': Victim testifies in sentencing hearing for Brendan Depa

Palm Coast Observer
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At the first day of the sentencing hearing for the former Matanzas High School student who attacked a paraprofessional, the judge heard from victim Joan Naydich for the first time.

“I’m just not the same person that I was,” Naydich said. “…Everything was taken away from me that morning at 10 o'clock.”

Brendan Depa, 18, is facing up to 30 years in prison for his February 2023 attack on former MHS paraprofessional Naydich. The sentencing hearing on May 1 at the Flagler County Courthouse covered the prosecution’s witness list, which included several mental health experts, the student resource deputy who responded to the attack and testimony from Naydich.

Because of the number of witnesses and expert testimony called in, the hearing had to be continued to a second day, which has yet to be announced. The defense still needs to present its witnesses, before Circuit Judge Terrance Perkins hears final arguments from both parties and makes his decision.

“I have no intention in rushing this case,” Perkins said.

When asked what she thought about the sentencing Naydich said she hopes Perkins will follow the guidelines before him, and “not give in to pressure.” She said Depa made the choice to come after her that day.

“I think that Brendan should pay for what he did,” she said. “There are consequences in life to bad actions, bad choices.”

Depa was 17 at the time of incident and charged as an adult with aggravated battery on an educational employee.

Depa has autism. He has also been diagnosed with several other disorders, including intermittent explosive disorder.

He underwent a competency hearing in March 2023, where Perkins found him competent to stand trail. The 18-year-old then entered an open plea in October, leaving sentencing in the hands of the judge. Depa’s sentencing could range from 30 years to juvenile sanctions.

At the end of the hearing Perkins asked one of the state’s witnesses, Dr. Greg Prichard, a licensed, private-practice psychologist who interviewed Depa, how much of Depa’s actions on Feb. 21, 2023 were intentional versus the manifestation of his disabilities.

It was hard to say, Prichard said. While Depa tends to be reactive, Prichard said, and the incident was a manifestation of his anger, Prichard said he believes Depa has the capacity to control his temper.

“I think he has some control, certainly more control that he that he showed in that particular circumstance,” Prichard said.

'THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO LIVE WITH'

The sentencing hearing was the first time Naydich was able to take the stand and answer questions about the Feb. 21 incident. Naydich, an employee with Flagler Schools for almost 19 years, said doesn’t remember the attack.

“My last memory is putting my hand on the doorknob [to leave the classroom],” she said.

Naydich told the prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark, that the attack left her with five broken ribs — three of which were broken twice over — as well as a concussion, hearing loss, vision loss, vestibular problems, rotator cuff issues and a herniated disk.

Over a year later, she still has trouble with her memory, Naydich said, and the hearing and vision losses are likely to be permanent. Before the attack, Naydich’s hearing was at 50% loss in her left ear and 20% in her right from her bout of radiation treatment for cancer some years before.

After the attack, she said, her left ear is at a 90% loss and 50-60% loss in her right ear. The vision in her left eye has problems with clarity, seeing out of her peripherals and has black spots that her doctors call ‘floaters,’ she said. She frequently has bouts of dizziness and headaches.

On top of the ongoing physical medical issues, Naydich said she has been diagnosed with PTSD: she has a hard time being in crowded spaces, she said, and can’t have people behind her. She’ll experience panic attacks out of nowhere, she said, describing one instance that lasted six hours.

“It’s where this is what I have to live with,” she said.

Naydich had worked in the cafeteria for 17 years before completing the training she needed to become a paraprofessional, and February 2023 was her second year in the position, she said. That year she was assigned as Depa’s paraprofessional.

The day had started normally, with Depa arriving at school from his group home around 7:40 a.m. The classroom Depa was in was a self-contained class, Naydich said, which meant the students in the class had almost all periods within the classroom, even eating meals in the room.

Depa, she said, had one class that he attended with other students, for second period, beginning around 8:45 a.m. That day, a substitute was teaching that class.

Naydich said that Depa had taken his game system out to play with, and the substitute had Naydich ask Depa to put the game away. She said he did put it away, but brought it back out toward the end of the class. At that time, she decided to take Depa back to his normal classroom early, instead of asking him to put it away again.

“That day was not the first day there had been issue with it. It was just like, a culmination of issues with it,” she said. “It became a distraction.”

Back in the self-contained class, Naydich spoke to the teacher about Depa not having the game system in with the general education classes. That teacher brought up the game system issue with Depa, and Naydich said that’s when he became “riled, angry and upset.”

Naydich said she did not take the game from him, or even talk to him about it in the classroom. She said she remembers him screaming “nasty names” at her. So she grabbed her things and decided to leave the classroom. As she was leaving, she said Depa spit all over her.

That’s when she left the room, she said.

Depa’s actions, Naydich said, have cost her her job, her financial security, her health insurance and the ability to take care of herself.

“My life will never be what it was,” she said.

DEPA’S IEP WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO VICTIM

Depa’s attorney, Kurt Teifke, asked Naydich if Depa’s multiple disabilities and disorders had been made available to her in her position as a paraprofessional.

Depa has been diagnosed with several disabilities and disorders, several of which are behavioral disorders.

According to Naydich, she was not made aware of Depa’s conditions. Naydich said it likely would have been up to the teacher to share the details of a student’s conditions with her.

As a paraprofessional, she said, her job was to help with whatever the teacher asked of her, though she was particularly assigned to Depa.

Teifke said Depa’s individualized education plan — called an IEP — outlined Depa’s disabilities, his triggers and even preventative strategies to avoid or deescalate situations if Depa began to get worked up.

“I was under the presumption that being a para I was not — that that access not readily available to me,” she said.

During his turn questioning Naydich, Teifke’s questions were geared toward asking Naydich if she was aware of any of the information outline on Depa’s IEP and, if she had been aware of it, did she believe having that information could have changed the outcome of that day.

“We could ‘if’s’ all day long,” she said. “He did comply and there were no issues until 10 o’clock in the morning.”

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN A STATE FACILITY

If Perkins decides to sentence Depa to a state facility, Depa would have access to the mental health services he needed, Clark argued.

One of the two expert witnesses she brought in was Dr. Suzone Kline, Department of Corrections chief of Mental Health Services in Tallahassee. Kline said every inmate is evaluated at an intake center and undergoes a comprehensive psychological assessment.

“It’s a full cadre of psychological tools,” Kline said. “And the goal of that tool is to assign the inmate an ‘S grade.’”

The S grade details what level of mental health services an inmate needs, from S1-S3 being inpatient care at the jail while S4-S6 would mean the inmate is housed at a psychiatric facility, Kline said.

Based on Depa’s history and previous diagnoses, she said, he would almost certainly end up receiving some level of mental health care.

“We treat intellectual disabilities or we manage neurodevelopmental disorders,” she said. “…The goal is to treat all of [the symptoms] together, along with whatever criminal thinking lead to incarceration, so that we can decrease their risk of recidivism.”

Clark's other expert witness, Prichard, interviewed Depa. From Prichard’s interviews with Depa, he said he agreed Depa has autism and intermittent explosive disorder and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.

“His kind of rage response, his anger response is very extreme,” Prichard said.

Despite diagnosing Prichard with intermittent explosive disorder, Prichard said he also believed Depa as capable of controlling his anger, citing there were no incidents at Matanzas High School in the previous school year or months leading up to the attack on Naydich.

“I do think he understand right from wrong,” he said. In their interviews, Prichard said, Depa did not take responsibility for his actions, at most agreeing that there were things both he and Naydich could have done differently that day.

But, Teifke argued, one of the hallmarks of intermittent explosive disorder is “grossly disproportionate response to a perceived threat.”

Prichard agreed.

“Essentially, it's a reaction to something that the person is perceiving that is an excessive reaction,” Prichard said.

The attack, he said, could have been a manifestation of any one of Depa’s behavioral abilities. Teifke pointed out that Prichard’s report recommended Depa be in an environment where he can be managed.

“He needs to be managed well. It needs to be rules enforced, clear indication of what the rules are, clear indication of what the consequences are for breaking those rules," Prichard said. "So whatever environment that may be.”