CHARLESTON, SC - On Monday, December 2nd, the drunk driver who killed a bride on her wedding night pleaded guilty to the charges against her, causing the victim's father and husband, who is now widowed, to explode with emotions.
According to the New York Post, the suspect, 26-year-old Jamie Lee Komoroski, got an earful at the hours-long hearing as several relatives of the victim, Samantha Miller, took turns sharing victim impact statements about the torture they have gone through since the night in April 2023 when Komoroski ran her over.
Just before Komoroski was sentenced to 25 years, Brad Warner, the father, said, "For the rest of my life I'm gonna hate you. And when I arrive in hell, and you come there, I'll open the door for you." Komoroski listened as Warner explained how he was hurt in a hit-and-run himself when he was a child and that just six months after he'd finally forgiven the driver, his daughter was killed.
Before hearing from Warner and the husband, Komoroski pleaded guilty to drunkenly running down Warner's daughter, who was just 34-years-old when she was killed, as she and her new husband Aric Hutchinson were driven in a golf cart from their Folly Beach wedding reception.
Komoroski was speeding 65 mph in a 25 mph zone with a blood-alcohol content at least three times the legal limit, as noted by investigators. Miller was killed instantly, still wearing her wedding dress. Hutchinson was left hospitalized with severe injuries. During the hearing and as he cried, the grieving groom told Komoroski that sometimes he wished he had died alongside his bride.
He said, "I wish I had gone that night, so she didn't have to go alone. I don't have joy. I don't have passion. I don't have drive. I am stuck in hell. What do you say when your world is just shattered? I think about that night every single day and the last moments that I had with Sam on the golf cart. She told me she didn't want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead and that's the last thing I remember."
Hutchinson's mother told the court she even wondered whether or not her anguished son would have been better off dying, saying that she needed to "chase away the thought that maybe it would have been better if Aric and Sam had been taken together."
Komoroski pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for which she received 25 years in jail, DUI causing bodily harm or death for which she received 15 years, and felony DUI for which she received 10 years. Her sentences are to be served concurrently and therefore she will serve a total of 25 years in prison. Addressing the court and Miller's loved ones, Komoroski described herself as a "recovering alcoholic," saying she would be "deeply ashamed" of her decisions for the rest of her life. She also said that she was deeply sorry for what happened.
She said, "I will use the time to better myself," acknowledging that she would and should be punished for her actions. The guilty plea came on the first day of her trial, just as a jury selection was about to begin. When delivering her plea, she looking distinctly miserable. She has been out on bail under house arrest since March.
She was so drunk when the deadly incident happened that she thought she was the one who had been hit, telling responding officers that she "did nothing wrong." Police reported that she reeked of alcohol and refused to do a field sobriety test while at the same time insisting she only had one beer and a tequila drink about an hour before the crash.
Komoroski is also the subject of a wrongful death suit filed by Hutchinson, which accuses her of recklessly driving into the couple after a "booze-filled day of bar hopping." Numerous bars where Komoroski allegedly drank were also named in that suit, and have settled out of court for about $1.3 million in damages.
According to the New York Post, the suspect, 26-year-old Jamie Lee Komoroski, got an earful at the hours-long hearing as several relatives of the victim, Samantha Miller, took turns sharing victim impact statements about the torture they have gone through since the night in April 2023 when Komoroski ran her over.
Just before Komoroski was sentenced to 25 years, Brad Warner, the father, said, "For the rest of my life I'm gonna hate you. And when I arrive in hell, and you come there, I'll open the door for you." Komoroski listened as Warner explained how he was hurt in a hit-and-run himself when he was a child and that just six months after he'd finally forgiven the driver, his daughter was killed.
Before hearing from Warner and the husband, Komoroski pleaded guilty to drunkenly running down Warner's daughter, who was just 34-years-old when she was killed, as she and her new husband Aric Hutchinson were driven in a golf cart from their Folly Beach wedding reception.
Komoroski was speeding 65 mph in a 25 mph zone with a blood-alcohol content at least three times the legal limit, as noted by investigators. Miller was killed instantly, still wearing her wedding dress. Hutchinson was left hospitalized with severe injuries. During the hearing and as he cried, the grieving groom told Komoroski that sometimes he wished he had died alongside his bride.
He said, "I wish I had gone that night, so she didn't have to go alone. I don't have joy. I don't have passion. I don't have drive. I am stuck in hell. What do you say when your world is just shattered? I think about that night every single day and the last moments that I had with Sam on the golf cart. She told me she didn't want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead and that's the last thing I remember."
Hutchinson's mother told the court she even wondered whether or not her anguished son would have been better off dying, saying that she needed to "chase away the thought that maybe it would have been better if Aric and Sam had been taken together."
Komoroski pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for which she received 25 years in jail, DUI causing bodily harm or death for which she received 15 years, and felony DUI for which she received 10 years. Her sentences are to be served concurrently and therefore she will serve a total of 25 years in prison. Addressing the court and Miller's loved ones, Komoroski described herself as a "recovering alcoholic," saying she would be "deeply ashamed" of her decisions for the rest of her life. She also said that she was deeply sorry for what happened.
She said, "I will use the time to better myself," acknowledging that she would and should be punished for her actions. The guilty plea came on the first day of her trial, just as a jury selection was about to begin. When delivering her plea, she looking distinctly miserable. She has been out on bail under house arrest since March.
She was so drunk when the deadly incident happened that she thought she was the one who had been hit, telling responding officers that she "did nothing wrong." Police reported that she reeked of alcohol and refused to do a field sobriety test while at the same time insisting she only had one beer and a tequila drink about an hour before the crash.
Komoroski is also the subject of a wrongful death suit filed by Hutchinson, which accuses her of recklessly driving into the couple after a "booze-filled day of bar hopping." Numerous bars where Komoroski allegedly drank were also named in that suit, and have settled out of court for about $1.3 million in damages.
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Comments
2024-12-04T21:40-0500 | Comment by: arthur
Consecutively, not concurrently, as the article wrongly states. If she is doing 25 years, then the sentence would be Consecutive, 15 and 10 running 'wild', so to speak, and not Concurrent, which would run the sentences together, for a total of 15 years. This difference has a big impact on the sentencing.