A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for allegedly spitting at some police officers.
You can see a news story detailing exactly what happened in the video below.
Larry Pearson was accused of spitting at the officers in Lubbock, Texas, as well having previous convictions for a number of other crimes, but the case prosecutors called for an example to be made, which ultimately led to a sentence that means that he will almost certainly spend the rest of his days in prison.
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It's an incredibly long sentence, but it is worth noting that it is not the only criminal behaviour that Pearson has been involved in over the course of his life, and he would have been facing decades in prison regardless if found guilty.
Pearson was placed under arrest after an incident in May 2022 when Lubbock officers were flagged down by a member of the public for an alleged domestic violence incident.
After attracting the attention of the cops, the victim told the police that Pearson had hit her a number of times and was in possession of a firearm.
In the end, it turned out to be an airsoft gun, but the victim had ‘multiple visible injuries’ at the time, so Pearson was taken into custody.
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After that, Pearson started to kick out at the doors of the police car, then spat at the police officers when he was told to stop.
He refused to stop, and continued spitting at officers even when he was brought to the Lubbock County Detention Center.
He was found guilty of two counts of harassment of a public servant this week, and at a sentencing hearing, the prosecutor Jessica Gorman asked for the jury to ‘send a message’ to Pearson, bringing to their attention his previous history of convictions for family violence, as well as another for aggravated robbery.
Because of those convictions, Pearson was already looking at a minimum of 25 years in prison, but was eventually sentenced to 70 years.
If Gorman wanted a message sent, that is probably good enough for her.
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After the sentencing, she said: “If you’re going to live the life of crime, you’re going to do that among other criminals [in the prison system],
"You’re not going to get 70 years for something like this when you’ve never been in trouble before."
In Pearson’s defence, his attorney Jim Shaw said that his client was only involved in a ‘simple misdemeanor’ but argued that the situation got ‘out of control’.
If Pearson serves his full sentence, he will be released at the age of 106.
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His sentence will notionally be up in 2093.
Tom Wood