Florida man sentenced to 3 years in prison for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic

A 21-year-old Florida man was sentenced Monday to three and a half years in prison for firebombing a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, federal prosecutors said.

Xavier Batten pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of possessing an unregistered destructive device and one misdemeanor count of intentionally damaging a reproductive health services facility.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney also sentenced Batten, of Brooksville, Florida, to three years of probation and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Carney said Batten had committed a “cowardly crime” that showed “no empathy for women and their rights,” according to the statement. He has been in federal custody since July 2023.

chemicalprophet,

3 shitty years?!! He must’ve been super light skined-ed.

stoly,

Unclear from the article why someone got 9 years and someone else got 3 years.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

Recognizance and how direct a hand they had in the crime, usually.

Zaktor,

The only thing I can see going for this guy was that he wasn’t actually caught on camera doing the attack, but this maps on to the “terrorist bombmaker” role in a terror cell.

Batten helped and conspired with Brannon to firebomb the clinic with a Molotov cocktail from February through March 13, 2022, according to his plea agreement.

Brannon and Ergul put together the Molotov cocktail about March 12, 2022, in Ergul’s garage, prosecutors alleged. Batten coached Brannon how to construct the fiery device, prosecutors said.

Brannon and Ergul ignited the device on March 13, 2022, and hurled it at the clinic’s entrance, sparking a fire, prosecutors alleged.

In May 2022, Batten discussed with Brannon about what it would take to bomb another clinic, prosecutors alleged in Brannon’s plea agreement.

latimes.com/…/florida-man-takes-plea-deal-in-the-…

Sir_Kevin,
@Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

This kid’s parents failed miserably.

stoly,

Some people are born broken. But there are also terrible parents. You can never quite tell which it is.

ExfilBravo,

Last time i checked the penalty for treason is death…

todd_bonzalez,

I am not saying that what this guy did wasn’t horrible and violent. 3 years is a pathetic consequence for what amounts to a terror attack.

But how the fuck was this “treason”? I get that it’s trendy to call Conservatives traitors, but we can at least understand what the word means before we use it every time a conservative does something bad…

Furthermore, no crime should carry death as a penalty, because the government shouldn’t have that kind of power over their citizens, no matter what crime they commit.

Drusas,

This isn't treason; it's terrorism. Literally terrorism, and the guy got only three years for it.

GlassHalfHopeful,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

I’ll never understand sentencing.

A 21-year-old Florida man was sentenced Monday to three and a half years in prison for firebombing a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022, federal prosecutors said.

A co-defendant, 24-year-old Chance Brannon, was sentenced last month to nine years in prison. Brannon, of San Juan Capistrano, California, was an active-duty Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton at the time of the bombing.

Another co-defendant, Tibet Ergul, has pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 30.

Psychologically speaking, perhaps deterrence being a goal of punishment isn’t all that effective. I don’t know what it would take to persuade a person from such an act, but whatever that is… that’s what the prison term needs to be.

I presume these people have radical thinking, so perhaps no amount of prison time, whatever it might, is enough. Especially if they believe they were serving their god in the process. Religion is a powerful driving force. Ugh.

These are the kinds of things that make me less inclined to show compassion to my fellow humans. And I don’t like that.

Why can’t we have that Gene Roddenberry Star Trek future now? 😭

OsaErisXero,

Why can't we have that Gene Roddenberry Star Trek future now? 😭

There was at least one apocalypse-scale event between here and there, so be careful what you're wishing for on that front

GlassHalfHopeful,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

Oh, I know. And it was a nasty one at that. We humans are good at making messes. I was literally thinking that as I posted. But… I was also imagining we could fast forward to then. Please?

One can dream.

thegreekgeek,
@thegreekgeek@midwest.social avatar

Yeah we’re about due for the bell riots, aren’t we?

OsaErisXero,

September, according to the lore. And the sad part is there's a non-zero chance of it actually happening on schedule.

But we've got the Irish reunification to look forward to, which is nice :)

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

Didn’t those happen in 1971?

kent_eh,

perhaps deterrence being a goal of punishment isn’t all that effective.

It really isn’t. Most people who plan their crimes tend to have convinced themselves that their cunning plan means they won’t get caught.

And (at the other end of the criminal “mastermind” spectrum), crackheads who don’t plan their crimes are also not thinking about the possibility of getting caught.

And if you beleive you won’t be caught, the potential punishment is irrelevant to you.

GlassHalfHopeful,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

That doesn’t leave a lot of good options to treat the sickness…

kent_eh, (edited )

Prevention. Education.

Fixing the core societal issues that have been proven many times to reduce crime.

Poverty, addiction, hopelessness, desperation.

Obviously dealing with those on a societal level is not fast, easy or cheap, but it does actually work. Eventually.

GlassHalfHopeful,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

This I’m fully on board with. There’s a lot broken that we can actively work on to build a healthier society. I don’t see any other obvious preferable routes.

My mind is completely boggled by the state of politics though. Voting for these kinds of programs is one of the most excruciating things to watch flounder. Programs are set up and then they’re dismantled a few years later. When things are brighter, some politician comes in and crushes them.

My head spins at the thought of how much money is being spent on all the things that supposedly matter, the corruption surrounding it all, and the privileged protecting the privileged.

Sometimes the glass doesn’t seem half full, but instead half empty. I don’t like feeling that way, but his political season sure isn’t helping.

Why does it always feel like we’re simultaneously in the best of times and also the worst of times?

zerofk,

I’m pretty sure Florida Man has been sentenced to a couple of millennia worth of prison time by now.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

He’s not usually pulling shennanigans in California, though.

reagansrottencorpse,

If it was up to Ronald, he’d probably give him a job in his administration.

Brunbrun6766,
@Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world avatar

That’s it??

NateNate60,

3 years imprisonment for domestic terrorism

Fredselfish,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

And if this was a leftest that was protesting they probably throw the book at them. Howcome our entire justice system is right-wing and protects these fucking fascist?

stoly,

This is by design. The US was built specifically to see to the needs of elite whites.

Olgratin_Magmatoe, (edited )

Howcome our entire justice system is right-wing and protects these fucking fascist?

It’s because the legislature is bought out by capitalists, right wing fascists have loaded up the courts with right wing judges, and the entire nation is built on a failed electoral system (part of which being a remnant of a comprimise with slavers).

NateNate60,

Five years in a State-run luxury hotel for trying to overthrow the Government of Bavaria! But don’t worry, we’ll let you out after eight months.

partial_accumen, (edited )

3 years imprisonment for domestic terrorism

No imprisonment for this guy. 3 years in prison PLUS 3 years probation.

However, there were 3 people involved according to the article. We don’t know exactly how involved this one guy is.

edit: corrected my mistaken reading

GiuseppeAndTheYeti,

3 years in prison and an additional 3 years probation.

partial_accumen,

You’re right. edited my post

GiuseppeAndTheYeti,

Still remarkably light considering someone could have died and millions of dollars could have been lost in a fire

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

3 years doesn’t seem long enough…

mosiacmango,

He was 1 of 2 men that fire bombed the clinic. The other man got 9 years, I assume because he was the instigator.

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