A 36-year-old San Antonio resident, Larry Isaac, was sentenced to 35 years in state prison last week for possessing 32 grams of methamphetamine.
The Kendall County District Attorney’s Office initially sought the first-degree felony charge of manufacturing and distributing the Penalty Group 1 drug, due to the large amount found in Isaac’s possession, but a jury found the defendant guilty on the lesser possession charge. The lesser charge is a second-degree felony.
“I get no pleasure out of seeing mothers and fathers cry on my witness stand because they’re going to lose their son for decades more into the system,” 451st District Court Judge Kirsten Cohoon said before handing down the 35-year prison sentence. “But your short years here on earth – you’re not even 40 – have brought you to this situation that now you and I are intertwined into this position.
“Assault bodily injury, terroristic threats, kidnapping, aggravated assault, possession of controlled substance. Offense after offense after offense after offense. You said to me everybody has a background, and that is true. But not a lot of people have a background like that.
“I don’t doubt that you’re a good son. I don’t doubt the tears of your mother, the validity of the tears of your father. But Mr. Isaac, we are a nation of laws. We are a civilized society. Your conduct in your 36 shorts years on this earth has been less than civilized and that’s why you find yourself here.”
In the initial trial, it was learned Kendall County deputies were called to the Love’s Travel Stop in Comfort in January 2021 after a manager of the store said Isaac was parked at a gas pump for nearly an hour, going in and out of the store and walking around his vehicle. In general, the store manager, Matthew Murray, said Isaac was behaving strangely, telling dispatchers in an audio recording played in court that Isaac was definitely “under the influence of something.”
When deputy Aaron Ramirez arrived, he said he could smell marijuana from a crack in one of Isaac’s windows and saw him toss a joint between his center console and passenger seat. This was a point the defense contested, noting the drugs had never been tested to confirm it wasn’t hemp, which was made legal a couple of years ago by way of federal legislation.
Ramirez placed Isaac in the back of his patrol vehicle and began to search the car Isaac was driving. Before the jury was brought to trial, defense attorney Andres Campion argued Ramirez had violated Isaac’s rights by failing mirandize him before placing him in the vehicle and questioning him and by searching the vehicle without confirming the joints contained marijuana rather than hemp. Cohoon denied all motions to suppress evidence on these claims from the defense before the trial began.
Some questions remained unanswered after the trial, which the defense was quick to point out. During an investigation into the incident before trial, no deputies nor the prosecution appeared to have collected video footage form the gas station. Also, the vehicle Isaac was driving was not registered to him, something investigators didn’t note until several days after his arrest when they ran the plates.
In the end, the jury unanimously convicted Isaac of the lesser charge, seeming to drop the distribution charge due to the lack of evidence he planned to break the 32-gram “rock” of meth into smaller portions. There were no baggies or scales found in the vehicle. However, Assistant Criminal District Attorney Manuel Cardenas pointed out there also were no pipes or butane lighters found during a thorough search of the vehicle indicating he had the meth for personal use.
Once the jury verdict was handed down, the sentencing portion of the trial was brought to Cohoon’s bench.
Grasping for the judge’s heartstrings, the defense called a series of family members to the witness stand to speak on Isaac’s nurturing role in his family. The defense brought Isaac’s mother and father as witnesses during the sentencing hearing who both described him as a great father and hardworking man who had a troubled past.
“He’s obviously no saint, but he has a lot of family who love him,” Isaac’s father, Larry West, said. “I’ve got grandkids from him. He’s a good dad. This last time he got out of jail, I saw he really was trying to do the right thing. I don’t know how he ever got into this mess.”
In response pleas that Isaac was working to be better for his children, Cardenas noted Isaac was arrested for possession of meth and unlawful possession of a firearm in March after bonding out of the county jail for the charge he was facing last week. Cardenas asked that Cohoon sentence Isaac to 40 years.
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