Court rejects Amy Senser's appeal, upholds conviction

The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the conviction of Amy Senser, who was found guilty of criminal vehicular homicide in a 2011 hit-and-run fatality, KSTP reports.

Senser's lawyer Eric Nelson had argued in his appeal that the state didn't have sufficient evidence for a conviction. Nelson had argued the court can reasonably infer Senser did not know she’d fatally struck Anousone Phanthavong as he put gas in his car on a freeway exit ramp.

But in its 32-page ruling the court denied the appeal.

The appeals court in its Monday ruling acknowledged the trial court abused its discretion during the vehicular homicide trial, but the court said the judge's errors were not sufficient to alter the verdict, MPR notes.

During an appeal hearing in May, the court had vigorously questioned lawyers on both sides in the case.

Senser, the wife of former Viking Joe Senser, is 10 months into a 41-month sentence at the Women’s Prison in Shakopee, WCCO reports. She is set for supervised release in October 2014, WCCO notes.