Jury hands down 70-year sentence to violent habitual offender who spat at police during domestic violence arrest

Lubbock County jurors on Tuesday believed a 70-year prison sentence was an appropriate punishment for a 36-year-old violent habitual offender convicted of spitting on police officers multiple times as they were arresting him last year in connection with a domestic violence report.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before returning to the 140th District Court room with their sentence for Larry Pearson, who they found guilty the day before of two counts of harassment of a public servant.

He faced two separate indictments out of the same offense for by spitting on two police officers, Brittany Cothran and Sgt. Joshua Conklin.

Typically, harassment of a public servant carries a punishment of two to 10 years in prison. However, Pearson's two previous felony convictions for aggravated robbery in 2009 and continuous family violence in 2019 enhanced his punishment range to 25 years to life in prison.

"You're not going to get 70 years for something like this when you've never been in trouble before," said prosecutor Jessica Gorman after the trial. "In Texas, if you've been to prison multiple times, two consecutive times and then you commit another felony that's a third degree or higher, you're what's called a 'habitualized criminal,' where you're minimum is 25 years."

Since Pearson's charges are not considered aggravated, he will have to serve a quarter of his sentence, about 17 years, before he is eligible for release on parole.

Arrest for domestic violence

The verdicts came at the end of a three-day trial during which prosecutors presented evidence that included video footage from the officer's body-worn cameras and testimony from the officers who responded that day.

Pearson's charge stems from an April 2, 2022, encounter with police who were responding to a domestic violence report in the 200 block of Zenith Avenue where his girlfriend, who did not testify at the trial, flagged down an officer.

According to a police report, Pearson's girlfriend told police she was driving the two of them home after visiting his parents and he became upset about his broken phone and punched her twice. She said Pearson stopped hitting her when they reached the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Fourth Street because he saw a marked police vehicle on the road.

When they passed the police officer, she said Pearson threatened her again, telling her, "you know you have an *** whooping coming" and punched her a third time in the face.

The woman said she turned her vehicle around when she saw another police vehicle and flagged down the officer, who made a traffic stop and called for backup as the woman said she believed Pearson was armed with a weapon. The weapon turned out to be an airsoft gun.

"But they did approach with their guns drawn for that reason," she said.

A handful of uniformed officers arrived to provide backup, arresting Pearson, who officials say refused to get out of the passenger seat. Officers unlocked the door and pulled Pearson out of the vehicle and put him in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Gorman said the officers testified that Pearson grew more upset in the back of the vehicle when the officers let his girlfriend leave the scene.

"He thinks that she should have been arrested because her tags were out," she said.

Pearson began lashing out as he sat in the backseat of the patrol vehicle, kicking at the windows and spitting at the plastic shield that divided the back and front seats.

Conklin opened the door to try and control Pearson, who reportedly spat on him and continued kicking the vehicle. The officer pulled Pearson out of the vehicle so officers could put a spit hood on him, but Pearson struggled against them, telling them they were going to "have to work to take him to jail."

As the officers struggled to control Pearson, he began threatening to kill them and he kicked at another police officer.

Ultimately, the officers put a spit hood on Pearson and a paddy wagon arrived to take him to the jail. However, Pearson was able to remove the spit hood and spat at multiple officers including Cothran.

At the jail, Pearson continued being hostile, kicking at the paddy wagon doors and screaming at officers. Officials said he began spitting at officers when they opened the doors to take him to a holding cell where he continued to harass them.

Lubbock police officials said it is part of the department's protocols to notify a supervisor if they are exposed to bodily fluids during the course of their jobs and document it in a crime report if the exposure was intentional.

Trial in Lubbock court

Jurors deliberated for about 11 minutes before returning to the 140th District Court with their verdict finding Peason guilty on both counts.

In Texas, jury trials are typically split in two phases, the guilt-innocence phase and the punishment phase. Each phase has different rules as far as what evidence can be presented to a jury.

In the punishment phase, jurors can consider a defendant's criminal history as they deliberate on a defendant's punishment.

In Pearson's case, jurors were presented with his criminal history which included three convictions for domestic assault, a class A misdemeanor, three times from 2014 to 2018. Class A misdemeanors carry a punishment of up to a year in jail.

In 2010 he pleaded guilty in Lubbock County to a first degree felony count of aggravated robbery and was placed on deferred adjudication for 10 years. However, he was sentenced to five years in prison after his community service was revoked.

In 2016, court records show he was convicted in Dallas County for a felony count of assault domestic violence with prior conviction.

In 2019, he was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of continuous family violence in Lubbock County.

During the trial, Pearson made several outbursts including hurling expletives at a prosecutor as she delivered her closing argument, telling her to "keep my name out your mouth, (expletive)."

Pearson also faces a Class A misdemeanor domestic assault charge for attacking his girlfriend in 2022.

Court records show Pearson was released on bond about a month after his arrest. While he was in jail, a protective order was issued prohibiting him from contacting his girlfriend or coming within 200 feet of her home.

Pearson violated that protective order by calling her from the jail and then going to her home and fighting her about two weeks after he was released on bond. He was arrested and booked into the jail where he has remained while waiting for his trial.

While in jail, court records show in the year Pearson has been waiting for his trial, he racked up about 30 disciplinary reports that included being uncooperative and hostile to jail staff, exposing himself to jailers and possessing contraband.

Pearson's defense attorney, Jim Shaw, asked jurors not to consider his client's past convictions saying he'd already been punished for those crimes and paid his debt to society.

Gorman told jurors in her closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trial that Pearson had been given every opportunity to turn away from criminal behavior but he continued to engage in that lifestyle.

"We asked them to just consider the life that he'd been leading," she said. "And yes, it's a high number for an offense that, with no criminal history would be a range of two to 10 years, but I think the reason for that enhancement being the law is if you're going to choose to live a life of crime and to be a criminal, you can do that around other criminals in prison and not in a free society with law-abiding people."

A Lubbock County gang expert of told jurors that Pearson was a documented member of the Rolling 60s Crips criminal street gang and jurors saw images of Pearson's tattoos that displayed his gang affiliation.

Gorman asked jurors to assess an appropriate punishment.

"I didn't ask them for a specific number, I asked them to assess a number that they thought would be appropriate for somebody who had chosen to live a life of crime and who was being this kind of an influence and an impact on society and that's what they felt was justice in this case and we're happy with their verdict," she said after the trial.

Gorman said she believed Pearson's punishment reflected the community's support for law enforcement.

"I think it reflects how they feel about the police officers who put their lives on the line everyday, risk their lives to serve and protect our community, that we want them to be respected, and that if you're going to commit crimes like this when you're habitualized, that you're going to get a high number from a jury," she said.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Habitual offender gets 70 years in prison for spitting at police