A woman who admitted to drinking and who was driving well over twice the speed limit when she smashed into a golf cart, killing a bride who had just got married at a South Carolina beach, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison. Jamie Lee Komoroski, 27, pleaded guilty at the Charleston County courthouse to reckless homicide, felony DUI causing death, and two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury before her sentencing. Judge Deadra Jefferson sentenced Komoroski to the maximum of 25 years for the felony DUI causing death count. She also was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each count of felony DUI causing great bodily injury and to 10 years for reckless homicide. The sentences will all run at the same time.
Police said she drank at several bars on April 28, 2023, and was driving 65 mph on a narrow Folly Beach road with a speed limit of 25 mph when she slammed into the golf cart leaving a wedding. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.26%, which is more than three times the legal limit to drive. The bride, 34-year-old Samantha Miller, died still wearing her wedding dress. The groom, Aric Hutchinson suffered a brain injury and numerous broken bones. The cart was thrown 100 yards by the crash.
Hutchinson cried in court as he recalled the last moments he spent with his new wife, the AP reports. "On the golf cart, she told me she didn't want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead and then the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital," Hutchinson said. He said he sees more doctors and therapists than he can count because of the physical injuries and mental anguish of the crash, and he thinks about it every day. "I wish I had died that night. I wish I had seen it coming. I'd have jumped off the golf cart so you would only have run me over," Hutchinson said.
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After pleading guilty, Komoroski said she realized now she was addicted to alcohol and selfishly didn't care how her actions affected others. She promised to spend the rest of her life helping addicts and warning of the dangers of drinking and driving. She said she was "devastated, deeply ashamed, and sorry" for what she did. "I wish I could go back and undo this terrible tragedy. But I cannot. I will live the rest of my life with intense regret for what happened that night," she said. Hutchinson won $863,000 in legal settlements from three bars that served Komoroski as well as her insurance firm and the company she rented her car from.
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