Prosecutors say a 21-year-old Florida man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for firebombing a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022.
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.
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?
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? 😭
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?
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.
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.
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.