No matter his ruling later this month, Florida Judge Terence Perkins will likely face outrage.
The veteran Flagler County official has been thrust into the national spotlight over the polarizing case of Brendan Depa, an autistic teen student who viciously battered his teacher unconscious last February over a Nintendo Switch.
Perkins will sentence Depa on Jan. 31 — and can impose a term as mild as probation or as severe as 30 years behind bars.
The 270-pound teen’s victim, Joan Naydich, has never wavered in calling for the maximum term — and reiterated that position in an exclusive interview with The Post this week.
The mother of two suffered five broken ribs and a concussion in the attack, and continues to grapple with vision and hearing complications.
“He definitely needs to be in jail,” Naydich said, noting that she has lost her income, health insurance and benefits in the wake of the viral beating. “He needs to be in jail for what he did to me. I’m in my own jail of sorts every single day I wake up.”
