A South Carolina woman who drank before getting behind the wheel and crashing into a golf cart carrying a newlyweds leaving their wedding reception was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in prison.
The punishment represented the maximum sentence for Jamie Lee Komoroski, 27, who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, felony DUI causing death, and two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury.
Komoroski collided on April 28, 2023, with a golf cart outside of Folly Beach carrying the bride and groom, Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson, while driving 65 mph, over two times the beach road’s speed limit.
The cart was thrown 100 yards in the crash, leaving Hutchinson with a brain injury and broken bones, and killing Miller, who was still wearing her wedding dress. The crash injured two others in the cart as well.
“I wish I could go back and undo this terrible tragedy. But I cannot,” Komoroski said during her sentencing. “I will live the rest of my life with intense regret for what happened that night.”
She added that she realized she was addicted to alcohol at the time of the crash and vowed to dedicate her life to helping addicts.
The sentencing also featured Hutchinson sharing remarks about his immense loss.
“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,” he said.
The widower, who won a $863,000 settlement from three bars that served Komoroski before the crash, as well as her insurance firm and a rental car company, told WCSC he was satisfied with the sentence on Monday.
“I feel like the punishment fit the crime,” he said. “I do think she’s sorry. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Sam’s not here, my wife’s not here, the family we planned, all of our injuries. So that’ll take some time for sure.”
When police first encountered Komoroski, they could smell alcohol on her breath, and she refused to conduct a field sobriety test. A blood alcohol test revealed a level of 0.26 percent, more than three times the state’s legal limit to drive.
“She got to do what she wanted today, which was accept responsibility, fall on her sword cause obviously that is part of the healing not just for the families of the victims but for also her,” Komoroski’s attorney, Chris Gramiccioni, told WREG.
