A prosecutor said she is making an example out of a Texas man who received a 70-year sentence for spitting on a police officer during an arrest.
Jurors in Lubbock County handed the lengthy sentence to Larry Pearson, 36, on Tuesday after finding him guilty of two counts of harassing a public servant the day before. According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, typical prison sentences for harassing a public servant range from two to 10 years.
However, Pearson’s two prior felony convictions — for aggravated robbery and continuous family violence in 2009 and 2019, respectively — increased the range of his penalty to 25 years to life in prison.
“We asked [the jury] to just consider the life that he’d been leading,” prosecutor Jessica Gorman said, the Avalanche-Journal reported.
Gorman emphasized that the sentence would not have been as substantial for someone with no criminal history.
“But I think the reason for that enhancement being the law is if you’re going to choose to live a life of crime and to be a criminal, you can do that around other criminals in prison and not in a free society with law-abiding people,” she said.
According to the Avalanche-Journal, a Lubbock police report detailed how a woman flagged down an officer in northeast Lubbock in April 2022 to report Pearson, who was a passenger in her car, for domestic abuse.
The report noted that the victim had “multiple visible injuries” on her face as she informed the officers that Pearson had a weapon — which turned out to be an airsoft gun — and had hit her several times.
The unidentified woman claimed Pearson stopped assaulting her when they reached the nearby intersection after he saw a police car. After passing it, Pearson threatened her again, she said. “You know you have an a– whooping coming,” he reportedly warned her before punching her again, for the third time, in her face.
Pearson allegedly became angry that officers arrested him rather than the victim after backup arrived, prompting him to kick at their vehicle doors. Gorman said he spat at authorities when they opened the door to order him to stop kicking.
Pearson reportedly continued to spit and resist after being taken to the Lubbock County Detention Center.
During the final arguments of the sentencing phase of Pearson’s trial, KLBK News reported, prosecutor Gorman urged the jury to consider a punishment that would “send a message” to him and society.
Defense attorney Jim Shaw told the jury that the sentence was inflicted for a “simple misdemeanor” in a situation that “got out of control.” Gorman, however, disagreed.
“In Texas, if you’ve been to prison multiple times, two consecutive times and then you commit another felony that’s a third degree or higher, you’re what’s called a ‘habitualized criminal,’” Gorman contended, the Avalanche-Journal reported, “where your minimum is 25 years.”
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