How the Senser sentence compares

Posted at 12:17 PM on July 9, 2012 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

As you probably know, Amy Senser was sentenced to 41 months in prison for the hit and run death of Anousone Phanthavong. Some in the social media world are claiming the sentence is too light.

How does it stack up against other hit and run sentences?

Here are a few recent ones:

March 2012 - Christopher Trauman, of Oronoco, was given 16 years in prison in the November 2010 hit-and-run of four people in Rochester, one of whom died. Authorities lodged 21 counts against him. He was drinking at the time of the accident.

February 2012 - Mark Wayne Lindgren, 55, of Bloomington was sentenced to three months in the workhouse for the hit and run accident that killed Dorothy Hanson. The accident occurred on 10th Avenue S in October 2010 as Ms. Hanson was crossing Old Shakopee Road.

November 2011 - Gregory John Larsin , 21, was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for the hit-and-run death of a 78-year-old man. He passed a group of vehicles stopped at a crosswalk to allow the elderly man to cross.

April 2011 - Christian Rogat, 41, killed a man on a moped in Edina in September 2010 and then fled the scene. He pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal vehicular homicide. He was drunk at the time. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

March 2011 - Taylor Rose Hohmann, 20, pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and was sentenced to one year in jail for the hit-and-run death of a man. In March 2010, she hit Mike Rymer with her SUV and left the scene in Crystal. She told police she thought she hit a pothole.

October 2008 - Armando Velasquez, 20 of Faribault, was sentenced today to 57 months in prison in the April 2008 hit and run crash in Burnsville that killed a Prior Lake man. He pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal vehicular homicide.

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Comments (6)

I wanted Senser to get the maximum, but was not suprised with the sentencing. My understanding is that it is a very rare occasion when someone is sentenced to the maximum. That said, too bad she's eligible for parole after 2/3rds served.

Posted by David | July 9, 2012 12:39 PM

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Considering her wealth, I'm very surprised Senser was sentenced for 41 months. That puts her in real prison, not just the county lock up. It looks like a lot of people only get 12 months, and that means the work house, not real prison.

Posted by Kassie | July 9, 2012 1:00 PM

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The sentence seems reasonable and while perhaps unsatisfying for some, a longer sentence won't bring Phanthavong back. I'm still a bit troubled though, when I consider what the outcome might have been were their situations reversed.

Posted by bsimon | July 9, 2012 1:58 PM

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I don't know what the max/min is on this but looking at your examples she seems to have gotten off light.

Posted by BJ | July 9, 2012 2:11 PM

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// she seems to have gotten off light.

The prosecutors asked for five years.

Posted by Bob Collins | July 9, 2012 2:30 PM

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Jennifer Simonson's photos are excellent.

Posted by Bonnie | July 9, 2012 2:59 PM

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