The wife of former Vikings tight end Joe Senser has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison as a result of her conviction on two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Amy Senser struck and killed Anousone Phanthavong last August while he was filling his stalled car with gas on an interstate exit ramp. Her lawyers had asked for probation based on her lack of a criminal record, in addition to a new trial after the jury’s verdict, but the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Judge Daniel Mabley was skeptical of her claim that she hit a barricade and not a human being.
“This isn’t about me. I hope you can believe me that I never saw your son that night. And if I had I would have stopped to help him. I take full responsibility for his death. I wish I could go back to that night and change things. I don’t know why, I don’t know why … our fates have come together but if you let me I will do whatever I can to honor his name,” Senser said in a pre-sentencing statement to Phanthavong’s family.
Sentencing guidelines allowed for between 41 and 57 months in prison, putting Senser’s sentence on the low end of that range.