A Douglas County judge on Friday sentenced a Lawrence man to serve two years on probation for a stabbing during a February 2008 bar fight.

District Judge Paula Martin ruled that Rodney O. Farmer, 32, must serve 16 months in prison if he is ever found to violate his probation.

Jurors in December convicted Farmer of aggravated battery.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Farmer stabbed an employee of the Jet Lag Lounge, 610 Fla., while the staff member tried to stop a fight.

The victim told police he was stabbed in the abdomen near his waist and cut in his left outer thigh.

Farmer’s defense attorney argued that someone else was responsible for the stabbing.