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The hulking Florida teen who beat a female teacher unconscious after his Nintendo Switch video game was confiscated at school pleaded guilty to the shocking crime Monday and faces up to 30 years behind bars.
Brendan Depa, then 17, violently threw Matanzas High School paraprofessional Joan Naydich to the ground before kicking and punching her in the back and head more than a dozen times.
Surveillance footage of the disturbing February attack — which occurred inside the school — quickly went viral.
Appearing in court Monday, Depa, who is reportedly autistic, copped to the crime and will now have his sentence determined by Judge Terrence Perkins at a January hearing.
“No contest,” Depa, who stands 6-foot-6, said after Perkins asked him how he pleaded to the felony charge against him, according to Flagler Live.
Perkins will have wide berth in handling the high profile case, with a minimum sentence of probation and maximum term of 30 years available to him.
Slated for January, the proceeding will include witness testimony for both the prosecution and defense.
Depa’s attorneys have stressed his mental condition, and argued he wasn’t competent to stand trial before Perkins nixed that effort ahead of the plea.
Naydich has declined to take part in any effort to mitigate Dena’s sentence, and prosecutors have not signaled a willingness for leniency.
“I’m hopeful that the awareness of this incident being spread far and wide will prevent anyone else from ever dealing with the trauma, physical healing and disruption of everyday life this has caused,” she said on a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $104,000.
Depa was initially charged as a juvenile in the case before the raps were upgraded.
The troubled teen had three prior battery arrests before the assault on Naydich, who was treated at a hospital after the assault and released.
Flagler Live also reported that Depa was involved in a jail fight in September.
Depa reportedly threatened to kill the educator after being taken into custody.
Naydich — who is expected to testify at Dena’s sentencing — declined to comment on the case.