Chance Brannon, a U.S. Marine from San Juan Capistrano, had just finished up carrying out a firebombing attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa in the early morning of March 13, 2022, when he texted another young man to confirm he’d accomplished the deed.
“It’s done,” Brannon said to Xavier Batten, a Florida resident who taught Brannon and his high school friend, Tibet Ergul, of Irvine, how to make the Molotov cocktail they used in the attack.
“88,” Batten said in reply. The number is code for “Heil Hitler” among white supremacists, federal prosecutors said.
“Did you see how long it lasted?” Batten asked.
“Not really,” Brannon said, “but it was (expletive) good.”
Transcripts of the texts were included in Judge Cormac Carney’s sentencing memorandum outlining his decision on Monday, April 15 to sentence Brannon to nine years in federal prison for his role in the firebombing.
An assistant U.S. attorney had asked Carney to sentence Brannon to up to eight years in prison. In giving Brannon more time, Carney said he believed “this sentence protects the public from future violence.”
“It takes into consideration the nature and circumstances of Mr. Brannon’s offense and his personal history and characteristics,” Carney wrote.
Brannon has been in federal custody since his arrest in June 2023, about a year after the attack. Last November, he agreed to plead guilty 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.
It took FBI agents more than a year to find Brannon and Ergul. Court records showed a witness came forward to identify both men only after the agency in January 2023 released suspect photos of them taken from security camera footage outside the clinic.
The witness told investigators that Ergul had sent photos of the attack in text messages, including one showing Ergul riding in the passenger seat of Brannon’s Dodge Challenger, holding the Molotov cocktail up for the camera.
A federal grand jury ultimately indicted all three men in July 2023 for the attack.
Brannon, now 24, was the first to agree to plead guilty in November last year. Batten and Ergul, both 21, agreed to plead guilty earlier this year; neither have been sentenced yet.
In a statement, Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District, described Brannon as having “deep-seated hatred” for the groups he apparently desired to target, among them women, Black people and members of the LGBTQ community.
Besides the Planned Parenthood attack, Estrada said, Brannon had shared with others his intentions to “plan many other acts of violence, including starting a race war.”
Prosecutors said Brannon had planned additional attacks on a second Planned Parenthood clinic, a Southern California Edison substation and an LGBTQ pride night celebration at Dodger Stadium that took place two days before Brannon’s eventual arrest.
According to evidence submitted to the court, Brannon was found with white supremacist literature in his possession, as well as photos showing him performing a Nazi salute with other, unidentified men.
In a photo, Brannon, wearing a red sweater, performs the salute with three other men, including one holding a rifle and wearing fatigues in a remote area.
In Carney’s memo, the judge described Brannon as a “highly intelligent” person with an “upper-class background” who “benefitted from great advantages in life.”
Brannon’s stepfather was a “supportive” parent to him, they said. Brannon was diagnosed with “Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and long-term depression,” according to the memo.
His mother was “very involved” in Brannon’s life, working “as an experienced clinical psychologist” with “expert knowledge in resources and treatment available for children with his mental health diagnoses.”
Still, his diagnoses contributed to “developmental delays, behavioral struggles from an early age, and rigid thinking.”
In text messages FBI agents discovered, in the months after the attack Brannon “repeatedly expressed desire to harm women,” according to Carney’s memo.
Brannon told another friend in the military that he had “seriously considered raping a woman” he had a confrontation with in a parking lot. He later asked the friend whether the friend intended to “stalk” a female soldier stationed nearby.
Brannon admitted to prosecutors that he had placed calls to both the Russian and Chinese embassies in Washington, D.C. after the Planned Parenthood attack, telling them he intended to offer himself up as a “mole” to the governments of those countries. He told prosecutors he did that because he was dissatisfied the U.S. Marine Corps had not sent him in to combat.
In a letter to the court, Brannon’s father asked Carney for leniency while still saying his son was “solely responsible” for the firebombing attack.
“Chance is a very intelligent young man, but socially immature,” his father Michael Brannon wrote in the letter. “He is deeply religious and was influenced by much of what he’s read online and experienced in the U.S. Marines.”
In court Monday, Brannon told Carney, “I’m not going to dispute the facts of the case.”
He added, “All I can tell you was it was stupid and out of control.”
Brannon said he understands how the public “`saw it as terroristic and horrible.” He also said he understands if the judge would have trouble believing he has changed his thinking.
“All I can do is live my life better,” he said. “And to do better for the world and others.”
City News Service contributed to this story.