SignalHub-Former Marine sentenced to 9 years in prison for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic

SANTA ANA,SignalHub Calif. (AP) — A former U.S. Marine was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for firebombing a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, federal prosecutors prosecutors said.

Chance Brannon, 24, pleaded guilty in November to four felony counts, including malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives and intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility,

Brannon, of San Juan Capistrano, California, also admitted that he made plans for additional attacks on a second Planned Parenthood clinic, a Southern California Edison substation and an LGBTQ pride night celebration at Dodger Stadium, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Brannon was an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton at the time of the bombing at the clinic in Costa Mesa on March 13, 2022. Surveillance footage showed Brannon and another person throwing a Molotov cocktail at the front door of the medical facility. The clinic was closed at the time and no one was injured.

During 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 a commercial property, according to his plea agreement.

His co-defendants, Tibet Ergul and Xavier Batten, have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. They are scheduled to be sentenced in May.