A 36-year-old Texas man is facing 70 years in prison for spitting at police officers during an arrest in Lubbock, Texas, last May.
Pearson was being arrested on domestic violence charges after a woman told officers he had punched her in the face.
TMZ reports, “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,” adds TMZ.
Pearson was known to police, having previously been convicted of aggravated robbery and family violence, and because of those convictions, he was looking at a minimum sentence of 25 years, said prosecutor Jessica Gorman.
While making her closing arguments, Gorman asked the jury to “send a message” not just to Pearson, but to society as a whole in the course of their discussions about sentencing.
“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, according to Everything Lubbock.
In closing, defence attorney Jim Shaw argued the sentencing should be for a “simple misdemeanour” in a situation that got “out of control.”
The jury disagreed, coming back with the seven decades in jail sentence.
“You’re not going to get 70 years for something like this when you’ve never been in trouble before,” said Gorman.
