Ex-Marine who firebombed Planned Parenthood, plotted 'race war' gets 9 years
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced Chance Brannon to nearly a year more than prosecutors recommended.
A federal judge who believes the U.S. Department of Justice unconstitutionally prosecuted white supremacists for violence at political rallies took a different tone with another professed neo-Nazi sympathizer who firebombed a Planned Parenthood while an active-duty U.S. Marine.
U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney on Monday sentenced Chance Brannon to nine years in prison, 11 months more than prosecutors recommended for a planned terrorism spree that included attacking Dodger Stadium’s LGBTQ Pride Night and damaging an electrical grid “to spur a race war.”
Brannon also considered attacking Jewish homes and wrote about his fantasies of raping women, according to messages quoted by prosecutors.
The clinic he bombed closed “in the immediate aftermath,” and 33 patient appointments were rescheduled,” the judge wrote in his 20-page memorandum.
“Women today are disproportionately subject to many types of violence and harassment. Mr. Brannon’s actions were intended to make one more venue less safe for them: the private and sensitive space of a medical clinic. He succeeded,” Carney wrote. “But even more consequentially, thousands of women, doctors, and their staff who learned of this attack were undoubtedly traumatized.”
Carney said Brannon’s conduct justified an “upward departure” from the 60 months to 97 months he faced under U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines. The U.S. Probation Office joined federal prosecutors in recommending 97 months but Carney said Brannon’s conduct warranted an eight-level increase in his offense level, which brought his standard range to 87 months to 108 months. Prosecutors had recommended only a five-level increase.
“Mr. Brannon engaged in cruel and indefensible domestic terrorism. He deliberately firebombed the Planned Parenthood facility to frighten and intimidate both women needing essential medical treatment and care and the doctors and staff providing essential medical care and treatment,” the judge said.
Brannon, 24, has been in jail since June 2023.
He grew up in San Juan Capistrano, California, and was stationed with the U.S. Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton when he and and co-conspirator Tibet Ergul threw an ignited Molotov cocktail at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa about 1 a.m. on March 13, 2022 “in furtherance of his political views, deliberately hoping to scare civilians, clinic employees, and physicians,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathrynne N. Seiden wrote in a 24-page sentencing memorandum.
“But for law enforcement’s intervention, that incident would have been the first in a line of domestic terrorism incidents intended to ‘send a message’ to groups defendant hated,” Seiden wrote. “Defendant’s hatred knew no bounds, extending to women, racial and religious minorities, and the LGBTQ+ communities.”
Prosecutors say Brannon and Ergul planned to attack a second Planned Parenthood clinic after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 but “abandoned their plan because they saw law enforcement near the clinic they planned to target.”
Judge Carney on Monday cited Brannon’s “intimidation of women and medical professionals” and his uncharged conduct, including the Dodger Stadium plot, when explaining his stiffer sentence.
“Though Mr. Brannon has pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, which is admirable, his conduct as a whole is extremely disturbing, threatening the safety of many people, and demonstrating a serious disregard for the law,” Carney wrote.
Brannon spoke briefly in court on Monday and also wrote a letter to Judge Carney in which he said, “I take full accountability for my crime and its consequences.”
Noting he’s “a Roman Catholic by birth and by choice,” Brannon said he decided to target Planned Parenthood because “I am deeply opposed to abortion” and believed “the source of my woes primarily appeared to be institutional.”
Chance’s stepfather, Bing Crosby, is the legendary singer’s grandson. He said in a character reference letter that Chance “is one of the intellectually smartest persons I know.”
“But, to know Chance is know that Chance has one of the biggest hearts around,” Crosby wrote. “If he sees someone who needs help or is in trouble, Chance is the first person to respond.”
Crosby said the U.S. Marine Corps “from the start saw Chance’s potential and sent him to the language institution in Monterrey.”
“There, he learned how to write and speak Farsi,” Crosby wrote, which is an Iranian language. “Chance soon became a man who so many looked up to and admired.”
The prosecution memo offered a different take on Brannon’s reputation as a Marine.
“When interviewed, defendant’s fellow Marines confirmed that defendant would frequently make sexist and misogynistic jokes in the workplace,” according to the memo. “One Marine recalled defendant making comments about killing women who had abortions, observing that defendant did not laugh when making those comments.”
Investigators found antisemitic writings and drawings in Brannon’s bedroom, according to the memo, but he “did not save his antisemitic views for his private consumption or closest confidantes.” His fellow Marines said he made antisemitic statements, and he greeted his friends by saying “88,” which is coded language for “Heil Hitler.”
“Defendants’ colleagues consistently described him as someone who exhibited a lack of respect and made misogynistic, antisemitic and hateful comments towards all non-white individuals, including using racial slurs to refer to one colleague’s spouse and friends and insisting that ‘all Jews deserve to die,’ as do many women,” prosecutors wrote. “And, of extreme concern, in 2022 defendant placed calls to not one, but two foreign adversaries, hoping to offer himself up as a ‘mole’ by providing U.S. intelligence.”
Judge Carney referenced Brannon’s “mole” offer on Monday and called it a “serious, almost act of treason.”
Seiden said Brannon’s letter to the judge showed “very little acknowledgement” of how he violated his oath as a Marine and instead “there was, candidly, in my view, a bit of scapegoating.”
“I am just not persuaded that disappointment in not being deployed is in any way a justification for this kind of behavior,” Seiden said.
Brannon’s attorney, Kate Corrigan, asked Carney to impose a 60-month term and said prosecutors’ recommendation for a five-point increase “is not appropriate.”
“There is no dispute that Defendant’s words and thoughts are repugnant and not accepted by society,” according to the 16-page defense memo. “His words, ideology and communications are not the basis for an upward departure. His words do not, in themselves, violate criminal law.”
Seiden said Monday that Brannon’s words and beliefs are relevant because they motivated his crimes. She also noted his huge showing of support and said his character reference letters “indicate a side of him that is not evident from the evidence in this case.”
“But they’re also reflective of the fact that sometimes you only know one side of someone or you don’t know all sides of someone,” Seiden said, adding that she’s “extremely concerned that even with that level of support behind him, he’s still engaged in misconduct.”
Brannon was arrested two days before his planned attack on Dodger Stadium. Prosecutors say he was armed with an unregistered short-barreled rifle and two unregistered silencers.
He 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 Act.
Ergul and Brannon’s other co-defendant, Xavier Batten, are awaiting sentencing.
Ergul pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to damage an energy facility and intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility. Batten pleaded guilty in January to possession of an unregistered destructive device, intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility and aiding and abetting.
According to the prosecution’s memo for Brannon, “In May 2022, approximately two months after congratulating defendant on having successfully firebombed a clinic, Batten consulted defendant via text message about how he could ‘get away with’ destroying another reproductive health services clinic.”
Judge Carney said the “nature and circumstances of Mr. Brannon’s offense are particularly disturbing.”
“Although his acts did not result in bodily injury or death, the circumstances of Mr. Brannon’s offense demonstrate a complete lack of empathy for women and disregard for their rights,” according to the memo.
Carney said he “sincerely believes that Mr. Brannon, with help, can rehabilitate himself, especially given the incredible outpouring of love and support so many have offered him as he goes forward.”
“But Mr. Brannon needs time, self-reflection, and dedication to overcome the immensely troubling behaviors and ideologies he has acted upon,” the judge wrote. He added while he believes Brannon is remorseful, “there is no convincing evidence that Mr. Brannon will stop engaging in wrongdoing that he believes to be ‘morally justified.’”
“Mr. Brannon frequently cites God’s will as justifying his actions and belief,” Carney wrote.
Carney said Monday he wrote a sentencing memorandum because of the high-profile nature of the case. He did the same on April 5 when he sentenced Tyler Laube in another case involving white supremacists that’s garnered press coverage.
In that case, Carney dismissed criminal charges over violence at political rallies on selective prosecution grounds because the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted neo-Nazi leader Robert Rundo and not “left-wing activists” the judge said were responsible for equal if not more violence.
Carney, who is retiring at the end of May, has a history of controversial decisions.
He told me for a Los Angeles Daily Journal profile in 2018, “I don’t really have an ideology, and I don’t profess to have divine wisdom. But if you had to say, ‘OK, what do you think you’re good at?’ I think I’m good at common sense.”
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