The Calgary man who drove over a Centex employee during a gas-and-dash theft must serve his 11-year sentence but will be allowed to drive again, the Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled.

Joshua Mitchell was convicted of manslaughter in the June 2015 death of Maryam Rashidi.

Rashidi had chased after Mitchell — who was driving a stolen truck — and tried to stop him from stealing $113 in fuel.

Last week, defence lawyer Balfour Der argued before a panel of Alberta Court of Appeal judges that Mitchell's manslaughter sentence was too long.

In his arguments, prosecutor Brian Graff told the judges that Mitchell's sentence fit the "terrible and violent crime."

The panel of judges dismissed the appeal but did rule Mitchell's driving prohibition be reduced from a lifetime ban to 10 years.

In fact, the panel noted the trial judge reduced the hit-and-run sentence from the prosecution's proposal of two years, despite Mitchell "leaving the broken body of Ms. Rashidi on the road but engaging in a hazardous driving pattern to escape."

Mitchell's 11-year prison sentence breaks down to 10 for manslaughter and one for the hit-and-run conviction.

Maryam Rashidi and her husband, Ahmad Nourani Shallo, with their son, Koorosh, in an undated family photo. (Rashidi family)

Rashidi was working at the gas station when she ran after the truck and climbed on its hood while it was stuck in traffic on 16th Avenue N.W.

Mitchell tried to jostle her off but she eventually fell under the vehicle, which then drove over her, causing fatal injuries.

Rashidi's death didn't end her family's story of tragedy; just weeks after Mitchell was convicted, while travelling to Calgary to mark the two-year anniversary of his wife's death, Ahmad Nourani Shallo was killed in a car accident, leaving their eight-year-old son an orphan.

Rashidi, her husband and their young son had moved to Calgary from Iran just months before she died. The couple came to Canada for engineering jobs in the oil and gas industry, but were laid off shortly after arriving in Calgary.

She had taken the job at the Centex station to help make ends meet and was working just her fourth shift when she was killed.

Mitchell was originally charged with second-degree murder. Defence lawyer Kim Ross secured a conviction on the lesser offence of manslaughter following a trial.

The 10-year driving prohibition begins after Mitchell is released from prison.