AUGUSTA -- A former Waterville woman will serve more than five years in prison after being convicted of aggravated assault for stabbing a man in the back with a steak knife in December.

Ann-Marie A. Meserve, 36, was sentenced Tuesday in Kennebec County Superior Count to four years in prison, with all but 10 months suspended and three years' probation.

That sentence is consecutive to a four-and-a-half year term she is now serving on a Cumberland County aggravated assault conviction for another stabbing that occurred Feb. 25, 2007, according to court records.

In the most recent case, police were called to a home on Eastern Avenue in Augusta Dec. 21, 2007, after receiving a complaint of a problem.

"The victim was in the process of ejecting a visitor to his home and ended up in a fight with that individual," said Alan Kelley, deputy district attorney. "While he was fighting with that individual, Ms. Meserve went to the other individual's aid."

Kelley said the man who was stabbed did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

An affidavit filed with the court by Augusta Police Officer Chris Shaw said he photographed seven stab wounds on the man's back and saw a bloody steak knife on the floor of the bedroom where he was interviewing various individuals. Shaw also said the victim did not realize at first that he had been stabbed.

Kelley said the individuals involved had been drinking a lot of alcohol. Conditions of Meserve's probation ban her from use or possession of alcohol and from being in any establishment where alcohol is served.

"Basically she was trying to defend another person," said Meserve's attorney, Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan said Meserve went to the aid of a man who was being choked. "She grabbed a knife and tried to prevent that," Sullivan said.

The sentence was recommended jointly by the state and the defense attorney.

"The mitigating factor was whether or not this was defense of another," Sullivan said. "This was the most reasonable resolution we could come up with."

Meserve has been held at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com