FORSYTH COUNTY — A Forsyth County man was sentenced to 15 years in jail after pleading guilty to stabbing a longtime friend in 2013.

Tommy Albert Samples, now 36, negotiated a guilty plea for criminal attempt to commit murder and aggravated assault, for which he will serve 10 years in prison and, upon cooperation, will serve the remaining five years on probation.

Samples was arrested on Aug. 16, 2013, after he stabbed Marshall Tallant, who was 58 at the time, several times in the stomach over what was thought to be a drug-related argument at Tallant’s Church Road home.

That fact that Samples stabbed Tallant repeatedly led to the criminal attempt to commit murder indictment, as “acts which constitute a substantial step toward the commission of said crime,” according to records provided by the Forsyth County Clerk of Courts office.

The use of a knife, “an object which when used offensively against a person is likely to result in serious bodily injury and did result in serious bodily injury by stabbing,” was cause for the aggravated assault indictment.

Samples was initially charged with aggravated battery, but that charge was dropped by the Grand Jury upon indictment on Oct. 14, 2013.

Samples faced a maximum of 50 years, with no mandatory minimum sentence or parole restriction, for his offenses. His plea was filed last month.

Along with the sentence, Samples was ordered against having further contact with Tallant.

Superior Court Judge David Dickinson was assigned to the case.