A Florida man will serve 42 months in federal prison after being sentenced Monday for helping make Molotov cocktails with two men who incendiary bombed an Orange County family planning clinic, federal prosecutors said Monday. Announced.
Xavier Batten, 21, of Brooksville, will also pay $1,000 in restitution and will spend the first three years of his release under supervision, “allowing law enforcement to search Batten without suspicion.” That’s what it means. press release From the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Batten pled guilty on January 19 to “one felony count of possession of an unregistered destructive instrument and one misdemeanor count of intentionally damaging a reproductive health services facility,” according to a press release. .
According to a press release, Batten taught then-24-year-old U.S. Marine Chance Brannon how to make a Molotov cocktail, and Brannon and 22-year-old Tibet Ergul assembled the Molotov cocktail in Ergul’s garage in 2022. It was revealed on March 12th. Prosecutors added that Batten knew in advance that Brannon intended to use an incendiary device against the clinic and that he was conspiring with both men to carry out the attack. The press release said Batten’s internet searches betrayed a “violent, racially motivated ideology” and that he sought advice from Brannon on how to “avoid” incendiary bombing another similar facility. . (Related: Judge sentences former Marine who dropped incendiary bomb on Planned Parenthood clinic)
In March 2022, a Florida man was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison for helping two Orange County, California, men drop an incendiary bomb on a family planning clinic. https://t.co/ePI8WADnIj
— LA US Attorney (@USAO_LosAngeles) May 13, 2024
Judge Cormac J. Carney, who sentenced Batten, called his actions “a ‘despicable crime’ that demonstrated a ‘lack of empathy for women and their rights,'” according to a press release.
Mr. Carney also sentenced Mr. Brannon on April 15 to nine years in prison and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution for charges including incendiary bombing a clinic, starting a race war, and plotting to invade a Jewish neighborhood. ordered.
Ergul, who admitted February 29 to sabotage of an energy facility and conspiracy to intentionally damage a clinic, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30, according to a press release.
Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department has faced criticism for aggressively cracking down on vandalism and even peaceful protests targeting abortion clinics as attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers remain unresolved. has been done. Garland responded to this criticism in March 2023 by pointing out that most attacks on pregnancy centers occur “at night.”
