3rd charge in vehicular homicide case vs. Amy Senser
Updated: Apr 14, 2012, 5:55 pm
Posted: Apr 14, 2012, 8:46 am
| Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS — The wife of former Minnesota Vikings tight end Joe Senser is facing a third vehicular homicide charge. In the latest development, the state accuses Amy Senser of acting grossly negligent when she was driving the SUV that struck and killed 38-year-old Anousone Phanthavong last August on an Interstate 94 ramp where he was filling his gas tank with fuel. The amended complaint says Senser was on her cell phone when she struck Phamthavong. KARE-TV (http://kare11.tv/IJQ7OZ ) says prosecutors must prove Senser knew she hit a person. Jury selection for her trial in Hennepin County begins April 23. Senser, 45, wife of former Minnesota Viking Joe Senser, was to go on trial April 23 on charges of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the Aug. 23 death of Anousone Phanthavong, 38, of Roseville. But in an amended criminal complaint filed Thursday, Hennepin County prosecutors added a third charge of criminal vehicular homicide. While the first two counts accused her of causing Phanthavong's death, leaving the scene and not contacting police as soon as possible, the new charge accuses her of causing his death by driving in a "grossly negligent manner." The new count stems from evidence turned over by the defense showing that Senser "was on her cell phone at the time of the crash and a crash reconstruction expert has opined that 'There is no reason the Mercedes could not have been going 50-55 mph at this point on the exit ramp' which was in a construction zone," according to the amended criminal complaint. The crash took place about 11:10 p.m. as Senser, driving a 2009 Mercedes ML350, left a westbound lane of Interstate 94 at the Riverside Avenue exit. Phanthavong's car had run out of gas and stalled on the r he was standing next to his car putting gas in it when hit. The impact knocked Phanthavong 40 feet. The Thai chef died at the scene. Senser drove on, leaving the site littered with debris from both vehicles. Nearly 24 hours after the crash, as the Minnesota State Patrol was still looking for the then-unknown driver and vehicle, Senser's lawyer called investigators and said the SUV they were searching for was parked in the garage of the Sensers' Edina home. Nine days later, the attorney gave them a one-sentence statement saying Senser was behind the wheel at the time of the crash. Although the state has the burden to prove Senser guilty, the woman's attorney, Eric Nelson, has maintained she didn't stop and didn't call police because she was unaware she had struck a person, a legal defense to the charge. Cell phone records promise to be an integral part of the state's case against Senser. An affidavit that is part of the criminal complaint details several phone calls that she made or received at the time of and after the accident. The state contends she was driving around, and they base that, in part, on records showing which cell phone towers handled the calls. While the tower closest to a person's cell phone is generally the one that handles the call, other factors - such as weather or obstructions - can route the calls through a more distant tower, and the defense has at least one cell-phone expert on its list of witnesses. Nelson on Friday filed a motion asking Hennepin County District Judge Daniel Mabley to declare some statutes Senser is charged under as "unconstitutionally vague." He argued that the statutes "fail to provide Minnesota driver's (sic) with sufficient understanding of when a duty to call police is imposed." He also contends that the statutes are unconstitutional because "they violate the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Specifically, the statutes require Minnesotans to incriminate themselves..." Both amendments are part of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amendment says, in part, that nobody "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." The Sixth Amendment says a person charged has a right to speedy trial, to confront the witnesses against her, can subpoena witnesses in her behalf and have a lawyer. In motions filed this week, Nelson asked the judge to bar prosecutors from asking witnesses about Senser's drinking habits or using any "testimony about impairment, DWI references or other testimony that Defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs" on the night of the crash. http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1493122 |
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