Tensions ran high in a South Carolina courtroom on Monday as the drunk driver responsible for killing a bride on her wedding night pleaded guilty. Jamie Lee Komoroski was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crashing into Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson as they left their wedding in April 2023.
The bride's grieving father expressed his rage, saying, "for the rest of my life, I am gonna hate you" while her heartbroken widower tearfully said, "I'm stuck in hell." Komoroski, who was three times the blood alcohol level, drove into the newlyweds' golf cart at 65 mph as they were leaving their wedding reception on Folly Beach, North Carolina.
Fate Sealed after pleading Guilty
Komoroski, 26, got an earful from the family of Miller during a lengthy hearing on Monday. One by one, Miller's relatives cursed Komoroski for taking the life of the blushing bride on her wedding night.
"For the rest of my life I'm gonna hate you," Brad Warner told Komoroski just before she was sentenced to 25 years behind bars in a Charleston court.
"And when I arrive in hell, and you come there, I'll open the door for you."
Komoroski listened with a grim expression as Warner shared a deeply personal story. He recounted being injured in a hit-and-run accident as a child and finally forgiving the driver just six months before his daughter was tragically killed, according to WCBD.
Earlier in the hearing, Komoroski pleaded guilty to fatally striking Warner's daughter, 34-year-old Samantha Miller, while she and her husband, Aric Hutchinson, were being driven away from their Folly Beach wedding reception in a golf cart.
Investigators revealed that Komoroski was speeding at 65 mph in a 25-mph zone and had a blood-alcohol level at least three times over the legal limit. Miller, still in her wedding dress, died instantly, while Hutchinson suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized.
A Family Completely Shattered
Through tears, the grieving groom told Komoroski that there were moments when he wished he had died alongside his bride. "I wish I had gone that night, so she didn't have to go alone," the 36-year-old said.
"I don't have joy, I don't have passion, I don't have drive. I am stuck in hell," he said. "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," Hutchinson told the court.
"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 had wrestled with dark thoughts, wondering if her devastated son might have been better off dying alongside his bride, saying she had 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, resulting in a 25-year prison sentence, DUI causing bodily harm or death, for which she received 15 years, and felony DUI, which added another 10 years. All sentences will be served concurrently, meaning she will spend 25 years in prison.
Speaking to the court and addressing Miller's grieving family, Komoroski described herself as a recovering alcoholic. She expressed profound remorse, saying she would be "deeply ashamed" over her choices for the rest of her life and that she was truly sorry for her actions. "I will use the time to better myself," she said, acknowledging that she would and should be punished.
