A Texas man was reportedly handed a hefty 70-year prison sentence after spitting at Lubbock police officers during an arrest in May last year.
As reported by KLBK/KAMC, Larry Pearson, 36, was at the time arrested for domestic violence after he was accused of striking a woman in the face enough to leave her with "multiple visible injuries."
Per WBTW, the victim also told police that her attacker had a firearm, which turned out to be an airsoft gun.
Pearson was said to have been angry that law enforcement did not arrest the victim and began kicking the door of the police car. When two officers opened the door to tell him to stop, Pearson spat at them and continued to so when they arrived at the Lubbock County Detention Center, per the outlet.
The jury on his trial ultimately found him guilty of two counts of harassment of a public servant.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Jessica Gorman advised jurors to "send a message" to both the defendant and society at large.
It was also revealed that Pearson had previously been convicted of aggravated robbery and family violence. He had been facing a minimum sentence of 25 years due to his previous convictions.
Jim Shaw, Pearson's own lawyer, pushed for a more lenient sentence, telling the court that it was a "simple misdemeanor" that had gotten out of hand.
"You’re not going to get 70 years for something like this when you’ve never been in trouble before," Gorman said of the lengthy sentence.
"If you’re going to live the life of crime, you’re going to do that among other criminals," Gorman told the jury, according to KLBK/KAMC.
When the story started making the rounds on social media, commenters had a lot to say about the apparently extreme sentence.
One person wrote: "Waittttt so they can storm the capitol… break into the capitol… injure the police and get off but he get 70 years for spitting. Smh. This is America."
Another wrote: "So they didn’t get him for beating his partner, they booked him for life for spitting at an officer. The minimum is 25 years. This is insanely excessive."
A third explained the reasoning behind the sentence: "Prior convictions for continual family abuse as well as aggravated robbery. That’s what I found with a quick search. Prior convictions especially violent ones have different jail times added also depends on the jury’s decision on what level the offender did the crime."
A final commenter appeared to believe the man's race may have had a role to play in his sentencing, writing: "It appears to me he got 70 for committing a crime while being black in Texas."
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