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She added: "I just hope someday you can forgive me for taking Anousone from you."
Mabley's sentence was on the low end of the range of 41 to 57 months called for in sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum prison term, saying Senser had shown no remorse and made only excuses for the crash.
Senser's criminal trial has been one of Minnesota's most closely watched in years, particularly due to the suggestion of a cover-up and the defendant's marriage to a well-known figure in the state. Joe Senser was a tight end for the Vikings in the early 1980s and has remained visible as a game commentator and as owner of a string of restaurants in his name.
Joe Senser did not attend the sentencing hearing. Nelson said he was with the couple's daughters.
During her trial this spring, Senser testified that she felt a jolt when she turned onto the freeway exit ramp in an area undergoing construction, but thought she had hit an orange construction barrel or a pothole. She said she didn't realize a man had been hit until seeing news reports the next day.
But prosecutors said Senser had to have known she hit someone, and highlighted numerous texts that were deleted from Senser's cellphone the night of the crash and the next day.
The Sensers settled a civil lawsuit filed by the Phanthavong family shortly after the criminal trial ended.
Nelson said Amy Senser got the tattoo of Phanthavong's name after the guilty verdict "as a reminder to carry him with her."
"She's not a monster," Nelson said. "She would have never knowingly left someone to die. It's just not in her."
After the sentencing, attorney Jim Schwebel said the Phanthavong family accepted Senser's remorse and felt that the sentence was fair.
"What we got was justice today," said Khonevichith Phanthavong. "We forgive her."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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