SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former U.S. Marine was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for throwing a firebomb at a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, federal prosecutors said.
Chance Brannon, 24, pleaded guilty in November to four counts, including malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives and intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility.
Brannon, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., also admitted to planning further attacks on a second Planned Parenthood clinic, a Southern California Edison substation and an LGBTQ pride celebration night at Dodger Stadium, said the US Attorney’s Office in a statement.
Brannon was an active duty Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton at the time of the Costa Mesa clinic bombing on March 13, 2022. Surveillance footage showed Brannon and another person throwing a Molotov cocktail at the door of entrance to the medical institution. The clinic was closed at the time and no one was injured.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said Brannon “engaged in cruel and indefensible domestic terrorism.”
He has been in federal custody since his arrest in June 2023.
Brannon conspired with two others to use an explosive device to destroy commercial property, according to his plea agreement.
His co-defendants, Tibet Ergul and Xavier Batten, pleaded guilty to the charges against them. They are expected to be sentenced in May.
NPR News
