Kirby Must Continue Serving Sentence; Appeal Denied

A Putnam County man must continue to serve his three-year sentence in confinement after the State Court of Appeals denied his appeal for probation.

Mark Alan Kirby pled guilty to aggravated assault, a class C felony, in a September, 2019 event. Kirby accidently stabbed his girlfriend after the two became engaged in an argument. The two had been using crystal methamphetamine.

Kirby said despite a negotiated plea agreement that gave the trial court the decision on his sentence, he should have been subject to probation. The Court of Appeals ruled against Kirby in part because he had violated probation.

“Clearly, the sentence of incarceration for the entire sentence and the denial of probation is compliant with the purposes and principles of sentencing,” Judge Thomas Woodall wrote in the decision. “Defendant violated probation twice in 2018, within a span of four months, and also committed a new offense which resulted in a conviction. Defendant’s lack of potential for rehabilitation supports denial of full probation. Accordingly, Defendant is not entitled to relief.”