Cops picked up Larry Pearson, 36, on domestic violence charges after he allegedly hit a woman several times in the face, leaving her with “multiple visible injuries,”
Pearson allegedly got angry when officers didn’t arrest the victim, and started kicking the door of the police cruiser.
When two cops opened the door to demand he stop, Pearson spat at them and kept doing so even after he got to the Lubbock County Detention Center
Jurors later found him guilty of two counts of harassment of a public servant.
During the trial’s closing arguments, prosecutor Jessica Gorman asked the jury to “send a message” to both the suspect and society with its sentencing.
Pearson had prior convictions for aggravated robbery and family violence, Gorman said. As a result, he faced a minimum sentence of 25 years.
“If you’re going to live the life of crime, you’re going to do that among other criminals [in prison],”
Gorman told the court.
“You’re not going to get 70 years for something like this when you’ve never been in trouble before,” Gorman told Nexstar’s KLBK/KAMC.
Jim Shaw, Pearson’s defense attorney, told jurors that the sentencing was for a “simple misdemeanor” that got out of control.
But due to his prior convictions, the minimum sentence Pearson could have received would’ve been 25 years.
The jury threw the book at him anyway.
“You’re not going to get 70 years for something like this when you’ve never been in trouble before,” Gorman said.
