Branden was one of the popular kids at Torrey Pines High School, an MVP lacrosse player with his eyes on scholarships to East Coast colleges.
Then he killed his friend in a drunken driving crash. Now, he lives behind barb wire with thieves and thugs.
And that is the cautionary tale he shared with about five dozen high school seniors Friday, his first public statement since his apology at his December sentencing for the Oct. 4 crash that killed Alex Capozza on a windy Rancho Santa Fe road.
"I take full responsibility for what happened that night," Branden said. "There is not a day that I don't think about Alex and his family."
Branden, dressed in his prison garb, spoke at the Vista courthouse as part of San Diego Superior Court's acclaimed Youth in Court program, which gave about 1,000 North County students a taste of legal issues and courtroom drama.
During the annual program, about 500 elementary and middle-school kids took part in mock trials in the morning hours, and 500 students from North County high schools attended afternoon seminars.
Branden's talk was the featured draw of the day.
Branden is now 18, but because his case was handled in juvenile court, Superior Court Judge Joan Weber, who runs the Youth in Court program, ordered that the teen's last name remain confidential.
His story, though, made headlines last fall.
The crash happened during a late-night run to a taco shop after a house party in tony Rancho Santa Fe. Prosecutors say the standout athlete had about nine beers at the party.
In court Friday, Branden told his rapt audience that, yes, he had driven drunk twice before that night and had not been caught.
And, no, he answered when a student asked whether he and his buddies talked about whether they should risk getting behind the wheel. They all just hopped in his car, turned on the radio and sped off, he said.
The young driver was going 79 mph in a 45 mph zone as he headed north on La Granada near the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club when he lost control of his 2008 Mazda 3. The car shot off the road and into a fence, bushes and trees before rolling over.
A photo of the aftermath shows a wooden fence post had pierced the windshield inches from where Branden's head was. The passenger's side of the car, where a seat-belted Alex had been, was smashed.
Alex was partially ejected and died from his injuries. Another teen on the passenger side of the car was seriously injured. The three other 17-year-olds, including Branden, escaped injury.
Branden spoke of the horror of that night, of seeing his friend's broken and bruised body. But his attorney, who was present as the tall and slender youth spoke, stopped him from explaining why he initially asked others to take the blame.
The teenager also spoke of being taken to Juvenile Hall in Kearny Mesa, where he was given jail garb, which he said was an orange T-shirt, blue sweat pants, mismatched socks and "tan underwear that used to be white."
The other teens in custody had committed premeditated crimes like robbery and sexual assault, he said, and he was the only Caucasian he saw in custody in Juvenile Hall, he said.
"I was stared down, called 'white boy' and teased about being fresh meat," he said.
Branden eventually pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving, and will have to serve at least nine months before he is eligible for release from custody at Camp Barrett Youth Correction facility in Alpine.
He said screaming corrections officers wake up teenage inmates at 5 a.m. They get a three-minute shower. The meals, he said, are akin to dog food.
But he has hope.
"Every day, I wake up on my small metal bunk and thank God for the second chance," he said.
After the talk, the teens said listening to Branden was far more captivating ---- and much more effective ---- than any drug prevention or finger-wagging warning program they have attended in the past.
"Look at him," said Rancho Buena Vista High School senior David Huckobey, 17. "He could be any one of us. That could be us."
Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.
