Federal prosecutors stated that a former Marine entered a guilty plea on Thursday for his role in the 2022 firebombing of a Planned Parenthood facility in California.
According to authorities, Chance Brannon, a 24-year-old Marine on active service at Camp Pendleton, is one of three individuals accused of carrying out the Molotov cocktail assault on the Costa Mesa facility.Planned Parenthood
The event on March 13, 2022, happened early in the morning when nobody was there, and no one was harmed. About thirty appointments had to be rescheduled by the clinic due to flame damage to the front door.Planned Parenthood
According to the Central California U.S. Attorney’s Office, Brannon spoke of additional assaults that were not carried out.Planned Parenthood
The U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement that Brannon and the other individual accused with the same offense “talked about starting a race war” by assaulting a power substation. This included talks about attempting to set fire to a second Planned Parenthood location.Planned Parenthood
According to a statement of facts that Brannon consented to in the plea agreement, Brannon also carried a gun with a Cyrillic message that included death and a racist slur, as well as a thumb drive that had a tape of the white nationalist mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada stated in a statement that “this defendant exemplifies the insidious danger posed by domestic extremism.”Planned Parenthood
June saw the arrest of Brannon. Xavier Batten of Florida and Tibet Ergul of California, the other two defendants, have entered not guilty pleas.
Kate Corrigan, Brannon’s lawyer, said, “He is looking forward to putting this chapter of his life behind him.”
According to Brannon’s plea deal, Ergul and Brannon constructed the Molotov cocktail, a firebomb, in Ergul’s California garage after receiving instructions from Batten.Planned Parenthood
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Brannon entered a guilty plea to conspiracy, malicious property destruction by fire and explosives, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and intentional damage to a reproductive health care facility.
It said that obligatory minimum terms of five years in jail are imposed on two of the offenses.Planned Parenthood
Original News: NBC NEWS
