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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       Former Marine sentenced to 9 years in prison in firebombing of
       California Planned Parenthood clinic
       
       By Taylor Romine and Jack Forrest, CNN
       
       Updated: 
       
       9:17 PM EDT, Mon April 15, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       A former marine who, was sentenced to nine years in prison Monday,
       according to the Justice Department.
       
       Chance Brannon — along with his co-defendant Tibet Ergul — attacked
       the Planned Parenthood clinic and conspired to plot attacks with Ergul
       and co-defendant Xavier Batten, including a potential attack on a power
       grid, in “furtherance of a race war,” the Justice Department said
       in . Brannon was an active-duty member of the Marines when the attack
       took place in March 2022.
       
       “The defendant’s assault on the Costa Mesa Clinic was designed to
       terrorize patients seeking reproductive healthcare and the people who
       provide it. Such violence has no place in the national discourse on
       reproductive health,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for
       the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release.
       
       Brannon, 24, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of
       conspiracy, one count of malicious destruction of property by fire and
       explosives, one count of possession of an unregistered destructive
       device, and one count of intentionally damaging a reproductive health
       services facility in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic
       Entrances (FACE) Act, the release said.
       
       In addition to the nine-year sentence, Brannon was also ordered to pay
       $1,000 in restitution, the release said.
       
       CNN has reached out to Brannon’s attorney for comment.
       
       “Brannon’s deep-rooted hatred and extremist views inspired him to
       target individuals or groups who did not conform to his neo-Nazi
       worldview and, in one case, led him to carry out a violent attack which
       could have killed innocent people,” Acting Assistant Director in
       Charge Mehtab Syed of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office said in a
       statement.
       
       Ergul, 22, and Batten, 21, pleaded guilty to their charges related to
       the case earlier this year and will be sentenced on May 15 and May 30,
       respectively, the release said. CNN has reached out to their attorneys
       for comment.
       
       Brannon first considered attacking other targets like the San Diego
       office for the Anti-Defamation League, but he decided on the Planned
       Parenthood clinic “to scare pregnant women, deter doctors and staff
       from providing abortion services, and encourage similar violent
       acts,” according to the release.
       
       He and Ergul planned a second attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in
       June 2022 following the that month but abandoned the plan because of
       law enforcement in the area, the Justice Department said.
       
       The Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa provides reproductive health
       services, including abortion-related services, and was forced to cancel
       dozens of appointments after the incident. No one was injured in the
       attack, Planned Parenthood said at the time.
       
       The National Abortion Federation, a professional association for
       abortion providers,  in violence at abortion clinics in 2022.
       
       Prosecutors allege that Brannon was motivated by neo-Nazi ideology and
       discussed “cleans[ing]” the US of particular ethnic groups,
       according to the release. Brannon in 2022 kept plans for an attack on a
       Southern California Edison substation in a thumb drive “disguised as
       a military-style necklace bearing the motto for the Marine Corps,”
       according to the release.
       
       There were 25 “actual physical attacks” in 2022 reported on power
       facilities across the US and one report of “sabotage,” according
       to statistics available from the Department of Energy, . The FBI
       warned in a 2022 of threats by extremist groups to “create civil
       disorder and inspire further violence.”
       
       During the summer of 2023, Brannon and Ergul also researched how to
       attack Dodger Stadium during an LGBTQ+ pride event using a
       remote-detonated device but were arrested two days before it was set to
       take place, according to court documents cited by the Justice
       Department. Days before being arrested, Brannon had also begun planning
       to rob Jewish people living in the Hollywood Hills, according to the
       release.
       
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