Woman appealing manslaughter conviction in wrong-way I-90 crash

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — The attorney for a Sioux Falls woman convicted of manslaughter in a drunken crash says an officer's testimony prejudiced the jury against her client.

Prosecutors maintain that the officer's comparison of the force of the crash to more than 900 handguns being fired at once was a proper analogy.

Thirty-year-old Tammy Kvasnicka is serving 60 years in prison for the July 2010 crash in which authorities say she drove the wrong way on Interstate 229 in Sioux Falls while drunk and hit an oncoming car, killing one person in the car.

Defense attorney Nicole Laughlin told state Supreme Court justices on Tuesday that a vehicular homicide charge would be more appropriate. That carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison.

Justices will rule on the appeal later.

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