EX NFL STAR'S WIFE SENTENCED FOR FATAL HIT AND RUN

Moments before she began her 3 1/2-year prison sentence for striking and killing their son on a darkened freeway ramp, Amy Senser turned in her chair, raised her eyes to Anousone Phanthavong's parents and tearfully apologized.
"This isn't about me, and I've waited a long time to say I'm sorry," Senser told Keo and Phouxay Phanthavong. "I hope you can believe me that I never saw your son that night, and if I had I would have stopped to help him."

Phanthavong family after hearing sentencing of Amy Senser for the hit and run death of Famous Thai Chef

Senser's sentencing Monday was punctuated by the Phanthavong family's grief and accompanied by Senser's regret -- so deep, her attorney said, that she had Phanthavong's name tattooed on her wrist. It also marked the first time she said she was sorry, something Phanthavong's family said contributed to their closure as much as a prison sentence.
"It felt [like] a relief to actually hear her come up and speak for herself, and just hear her apology from herself," said a niece, Souksavanh Phanthavong. "She's not listening to all the lawyers and everyone else advising her. It was her."
The remorse appeared genuine, Judge Daniel Mabley said, but it wasn't the same as accepting responsibility.
He rejected the defense request for probation and ordered prison time for her conviction on two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, saying, in part, he was doubtful of Senser's story that she didn't know she struck Phanthavong. He theorized she was "panicked and confused," and believed if she continued driving on, "maybe she could avoid responsibility."
A prison sentence in the highly publicized case, he said, should also serve as a deterrent to what he called an "epidemic" of drivers who leave the scenes of serious or fatal accidents.
The 41-month sentence is the lowest amount of time Senser could receive under state guidelines. She also was fined $6,000 and handed a 90-day sentence for a misdemeanor careless driving conviction that will be served concurrently with the longer term. Senser will serve two-thirds of her sentence at the Minnesota women's prison in Shakopee. She will be eligible for parole in October 2014.
A jury convicted Senser in May of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide for Phanthavong's death -- one count for leaving the scene, the other for failing to notify authorities. She was sentenced for only one conviction because both charges stemmed from a single incident.
Mabley denied a defense motion to allow Senser to remain free pending an appeal. Her husband, ex-Minnesota Vikings star Joe Senser, was not at the hearing. Defense attorney Eric Nelson said later he was with the couple's teenage daughters.