Amy Senser to serve supervised-release after fatal accident

ST. PAUL - After serving nearly two years in prison and another six months on work-release for a fatal 2011 hit-and-run, Amy Senser was to be released from state custody Monday.
Senser will be under supervised release, the term under Minnesota law for parole or probation, for about a year.
An agent will supervise Senser until December 2015. During that time, Senser must adhere to terms of her release.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sarah Latuseck said in an email that examples of release terms include staying in contact with her agent, submitting to unannounced searches of her house or car and refraining from using or possessing drugs or alcohol. The wife of former Vikings tight end Joe Senser was sentenced to 41 months in prison in July 2012 for striking Thai restaurant chef Anousone “Bic” Phanthavong with a Mercedes-Benz while he was standing on an exit ramp of Interstate 94.
Phanthavong, 38, of Roseville was knocked 50 feet and died at the scene.
Senser testified that she drove on after hitting Phanthavong, thinking she had hit a pothole or construction barricade. She said it wasn’t until the next morning that she and her husband noticed damage to the front of the car. Rather than calling police, they called defense attorney Eric Nelson.
Nelson declined comment, and Joe Senser could not be reached for comment.
The Sensers and their two daughters took an overnight trip to Stillwater the night after the accident while Nelson surrendered the car to the Minnesota State Patrol - but didn’t tell them who had been driving it.
Nine days later, Nelson acknowledged in a fax to investigators that Amy Senser had been behind the wheel.
At trial, Hennepin County prosecutors argued that Senser likely was drunk, though the case against her was mostly circumstantial. Nelson argued that conditions on the exit ramp the night of the crash would have made it difficult to see Phanthavong.
Jurors found Senser guilty of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide. They acquitted her of one criminal vehicular homicide count that alleged gross negligence and one count of careless driving.
District Judge Dan Mabley sentenced Senser to a little more than three years in prison, adding that he didn’t believe her testimony.
Senser was approved for work-release in April - which means she had a full-time job every day while residing in a county jail or residential facility such as a halfway house. Latuseck wouldn’t say where Senser was living.
Work-release is intended for “carefully selected” inmates to help them transition back into the community, Latuseck’s email said.
(The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum News Service.)