Brendan Depa Appeal: Court Abused Its Discretion By Imposing State Prison Instead of Juvenile Sanctions

Brendan Depa Appeal: Court Abused Its Discretion By Imposing State Prison Instead of Juvenile Sanctions

The long-expected appeal in the case of Brendan Depa argues that Circuit Judge Terence Perkins abused the court’s discretion last summer when he imposed a five-year, adult prison sentence and 15 years of probation rather than what would have amounted to two years in a juvenile prison.  Depa, who will be 20 in August, was a 17-year-old Matanzas High School special education student when he attacked then-teacher aide Joan Naydich after he got angr…