Everything really is bigger in Texas … including prison sentences, because a man is potentially going to spend the rest of his life behind bars for spitting at police officers during his arrest.
A Lubbock jury handed down the headline-grabbing punishment Wednesday for 36-year-old Larry Pearson … who was found guilty of 2 counts of harassment of a public servant.
Prosecutors say Pearson spit at 2 Lubbock PD officers who arrested him in May 2022 on domestic violence charges after a woman told cops Pearson hit her in the face.
According to prosecutors, Pearson was upset the alleged victim was not arrested instead, and started kicking at the doors in the cop car where he was being held … and he spit at the officers when they opened the car door.
Prosecutors say the spitting didn’t end there … claiming Pearson kept hocking loogies upon arrival at the Lubbock County Detention Center.
During the trial’s closing arguments, prosecutor Jessica Gorman asked jurors to consider a sentence that would “send a message” to not only Pearson, but also society … and he ended up getting 70 years.
Pearson also had prior convictions for family violence and aggravated robbery, and, as a result, the minimum sentence the jury could impose was 25 years.
The guy’s no angel, for sure, but there’s a huge gap between 25 and 70 years! And, for a crime like spitting … that seems extreme. Even in Texas.
Meanwhile, Pearson’s defense attorney Jim Shaw pushed for a lighter sentence, telling jurors this case was about a “simple misdemeanor” that spiraled “out of control.”