- September 20, 2024
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A South Florida activist with a criminal history is funding an appeal for the sentencing of Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student who attacked a paraprofessional in February 2023.
On Aug. 6, Brenden Depa was sentenced to 5 years in state prison and 15 years probation for attacking paraprofessional Joan Naydich. Activist and registered sex offender Mark Hadden held a press conference on Aug. 22 to announce he would was paying for a law firm to represent Depa for an appeal.
A notice of appeal must be filed 30 days from the date of the court case’s final judgement, according to Robert Malove Law website. Depa was sentenced on Aug. 6 so his new attorneys only have until Sept. 6 to file the notice.
Depa was facing up to 30 years in prison, though Circuit Judge Terence Perkins had the option to sentence Depa to juvenile sanctions because of his age at the time of the attack. He was 17 at the time of the incident and charged as an adult with aggravated battery on an educational employee.
Hadden — who showed up to announce his support of Depa while wearing a promotional T-shirt for his self-published, autobiography, All Hadden — said that his experience as a black man in America is what encouraged him to open his nonprofit, the America Coalition for the Advancement of all People, and also take an interest in Depa’s case.
He said neither Depa nor victim Joan Naydich should ever have been that situation. But, he said, if Depa were a young white man, he also would not have been charged as an adult.
"If we want to act like racism didn't play a part, we are fooling ourselves," he said.
According to Depa’s court documents, the law offices filed for its attorneys Hani Demetrious and Robert David Malove to be Depa’s attorneys of record on Aug. 13.
In a phone interview with the Observer, Demetrious said he specializes in appeals, but has not tried a case factually similar to Depa's before, where the accused pled out in court and just the sentencing was argued. He and the firm still need to go through the court records of the sentencing before it can be determined on what grounds the firm will file the appeal.
Hadden said his motivation for the both his nonprofit and funding Depa's appeal is "injustice, fighting for people that's wrongfully done wrong, people that need help and guidance in the criminal [justice] system."
Hadden, a registered sex offender, considers himself one such person. In 1997 in St. Lucie County, at the age of 30, Hadden was charged with sexual battery and lewd and lascivious battery of a minor under 16 and pled down to the lesser charge of attempted lewd and lascivious battery. He was sentenced to six months in jail, with credit for time served, with a five year probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
In 2007 to 2009, Hadden was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender in Escambia, Florida, and served almost two years in prison.
Hadden said this would be the second criminal appeal his nonprofit had funded, but declined to provide details on the first, except that it involved a young man in Florida around 2015.
