NATCHEZ — The 70-year sentence for a Natchez man who robbed a bank and then shot a sheriff’s deputy in his getaway attempt will stand.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld Tuesday the 2013 conviction of Kendrick Smith, 27, for armed robbery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Smith had sought to have the court invalidate the conviction based on challenges to pre-trial motion rulings and jury instructions.

Pam Frank — the wife of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy Smith shot, Buddy Frank — said she was “very happy” to hear the court had upheld the conviction and sentencing.

“The stress of the situation was very tough,” she said. “We are all very happy that they held that (conviction) up, and hopefully this won’t go any further.”

Buddy Frank was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

While he was able to recover from the bullet wound he sustained to his left calf when Smith shot him, Pam Frank said Buddy Frank still has to deal with swelling and circulation issues that doctors have said he will likely deal with for the rest of his life.

Smith robbed United Mississippi Bank on Seargent S. Prentiss Drive at gunpoint in June 2011, but was foiled in his attempt to get away almost immediately.

An employee at the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken location had seen him hiding in the bushes shortly before the robbery, and alerted three ACSO deputies in the restaurant of the suspicious activity. When Smith ran out of the bank and saw the law enforcement officers approaching, he opened fire, one bullet striking Buddy Frank in the calf.

Frank returned fire, and one bullet struck the suspect in the torso.

While none of the witnesses at trial could conclusively identify Smith as the bank robber — he wore a bandanna around his face, a hat and gloves — he was found shirtless and bleeding from a bullet wound in a ravine near the bank shortly after the robbery.

At his second trial, Smith took the stand and said he had been the victim of an unrelated robbery and shooting that coincided with the timing of the bank robbery and that law enforcement officers had grabbed the wrong suspect.

The first time the case was tried in November 2012, it ended in mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for the count related to Frank’s shooting.

In the 2012 trial, the jury found Smith “not guilty” of two counts aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for allegedly shooting at two other deputies and “not guilty” of aggravated assault for allegedly shooting at the employee of a nearby business while fleeing the robbery.

Smith was sentenced to 70 years in prison, the total sentence handed by Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson consisting of a sentence of 40 years for armed robbery and 30 years for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer to be served consecutively.

Part of the reason for the consecutive sentences was because of Smith’s apparent unrepentant demeanor, Johnson said at the time.

According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Smith is currently housed at Walnut Grove Correctional Facility.