LIVE BLOG: Mark Kerrigan Sentenced to 2 Years in County Jail

Here are updates from the sentencing in the Mark Kerrigan trial Thursday at Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn:

@9:22 a.m.: Sentencing begins.

@9:23 a.m.: Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Keeley opens sentencing for prosecution. She claims Mark Kerrigan's arrest history began as a juvenile more than 30 years ago, adding that he spent four years in prison on a variety of charges, including violating a restraining order. "I would argue this defendant has been given numerous opportunities," Keeley said. "He is 46 years old… this is not a man in his twenties… [he does not know] how to control his temper and drinking. He is not a candidate for probation." The prosecution, which accused Mark Kerrigan of violating his pre-trial release conditions by consuming alcohol on Feb. 12, recommends a maximum sentence of 2 1/2 years.

@9:30 a.m.: "On behalf of my family... we support Mark (Kerrigan). [We would have liked full not guilty verdicts on Wednesday], but we respect the work of the jury," Nancy Kerrigan said during her statement to the court asking for her brother's release. "I hope the court will consider the hardship and trauma my family (has experienced). None of us have really had a chance to grieve the death of my father. [We need Mark back with us.]" Nancy Kerrigan began crying at the end of her statement. 

@9:32 a.m.: Joanne Tarason, Brenda Kerrigan's sister reads statement by Brenda, "I need Mark back home with me. You have the power to give my son back to me and I ask you to do that for me." Tarason began sobbing shortly after the statement.

@9:38 a.m.: Mark Kerrigan's Attorney Janice Bassil said her client has battled depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder and taken prescriptions for these issues. In 1985, he was in the Army working on a peacekeeping mission and he was supposed to be on board the third plane leaving Egypt and that plane crashed, killing 248 people including two of his best friends, and he has lived with that burden ever since, according to Bassil. 

@9:47 a.m.: Bassil recommends Mark Kerrigan be released today, with mental health treatment. She also recommended a six month suspended sentence, with one year of probation.

@9:48 a.m.: Mark Kerrigan asks to be released and return home with his family. "I love my father and I miss him very much," Mark Kerrigan said. "And I'd like the opportunity to return home with my family so we can finish grieving over my father's loss so I can be there to help my mother."

@9:49 a.m.: Court is in recess.

@10:18: Mark Kerrigan has "uncontrollable anger issues... destructive behavior... a man with independent health issues. ... He is not a candidate for probation," Judge S. Jane Haggerty said. She sentenced Mark Kerrigan to a 2 1/2 year sentence with six months suspended, two years probation, in-patient alcohol treatment and he has to attend AA four times a week.

Mark Kerrigan is eligible for parole in eight months.