A Florida judge who will soon sentence Brendan Depa, the autistic teenager who beat his teacher unconscious over a Nintendo Switch, went soft on two young men charged last week in an unrelated high-profile case.
Judge Terrence Perkins sentenced Gabriella Alo, 18, to six years in prison for sadistically beating a terrified teenage victim and then running over a good Samaritan who tried to intervene, according to Flagler Live.
The site reported how Alo had racked up 764 conduct violations in just one quarter at his school before the January beating in Flagler County.
Although prosecutors had recommended 15 years, Perkins, considered a balanced arbitrator by local attorneys, noted that Alo suffered from serious mental health problems and had expressed remorse.
He will weigh similar considerations in the nationally reviewed case of Depa, a burly teenager who punched and stomped on former Matanzas high school teacher Joan Naydich more than a dozen times in February.
While Naydich has pushed for Depa to face the maximum 30 years behind bars, Perkins has the option of a sentence as light as probation.
Gabriella Alo, 18, and her brother Nicholas, 22, were sentenced last week. Flagler Beach Police Alo ran over Kaitlin Dahme twice after the waitress tried to intervene in the attack. Click Orlando
The traumatized teacher has said she still suffers both physically and mentally from the beatings.
Lawyers for Depa, who punched Naydich after his Nintendo Switch was taken, claim he suffers from severe autism and other disorders that mitigate his culpability in the viral attack, which was captured on school surveillance cameras.
Depa’s adoptive mother, Leane Depa, told NewsNation that a prison sentence would constitute a “death sentence” for her son, and that he should never have been allowed into a mainstream school setting.
Alo and his brother, prosecutors said, filmed their assault in January in a local park and could be heard laughing and mocking their victim as they kicked and punched him in front of jeering onlookers.
After walking away for a while, they returned and resumed the attack.
Meanwhile, a woman and her mother who lived nearby heard a commotion and stopped to investigate.
Brendan Depa will be sentenced for the beating of Professor Joan Naydich in February. Flagler County S Depa faces up to 30 years behind bars. Nigel Cook/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK Florida Circuit Judge Terrence Perkins sentenced 18-year-old Gabriella Alo to six years in prison. @TheFlaBar /X
Mistaking Alo’s car for her brother’s, Kaitlin Dahme, a local waitress, ran toward the fight, thinking her brother was in danger.
Alo then jumped into his vehicle and ran over Dahme twice, breaking his ankle and injuring his leg.
Alo’s brother, Nicholas, 22, was present during part of the beating and was in the car when it hit Dahme. Perkins sentenced him to two years in prison.
With time served and other factors, Gabriella Alo could be out in just four years.
Depa, pictured with a family member, faces up to 30 years in prison for his assault. Leanne Depa
“I can’t take it back, but if I could, I definitely would,” she said through tears in court, according to Flagler Live. “I want to make better decisions in the future.”
A psychologist testified that Alo had a staggering number of behavioral incidents prior to the filmed assault.
Both she and her brother had been medicated since early childhood and both have been cited for misconduct behind bars since their arrests in January.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn