PORTLAND (AP) – Maine’s highest court on Tuesday upheld an Old Orchard Beach woman’s conviction and sentence for hindering the apprehension of two brothers wanted in the murder of a New Hampshire man during a botched robbery attempt at a highway rest stop.

Penny Black was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended, for lying to police as they searched for the killers of Julius Petrovic of Bretton Woods, N.H., in May 2004.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld Black’s conviction and prison sentence, but it vacated her sentence of four years of probation.

In a 6-1 ruling, the justices said the sentencing judge didn’t give any explanation for the term of the probation and ordered the case back to a lower court for resentencing on probation.

Black was the girlfriend of Shawn Hopkins, who is the father of her child, when he and his younger brother, Ryan, borrowed her car on May 17, 2004.

The brothers used the car during a robbery attempt that went awry at a rest stop in Yarmouth off Interstate 295. Petrovic, 60, was shot in broad daylight through the window of his parked sport utility vehicle.

Both brothers pleaded guilty. Ryan Hopkins was sentenced to 42 years in prison, and Shawn Hopkins was sentenced to 30 years. Ryan Hopkins got the longer sentence because he was the triggerman.

After the brothers made their getaway, police were led to Black’s vehicle, which was parked outside the Old Orchard Beach motel where she lived.

When Black was questioned by police regarding the possible involvement of her car in the shooting, she repeatedly lied about who had borrowed her car and pointed the finger at other people who had no involvement in the crime.