South Carolina woman sentenced to 25 years for DUI crash that killed bride and injured groom

A South Carolina woman charged with drunkenly ploughing into a newlywed couple’s golf cart, killing the bride and seriously injuring the groom on their wedding day, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A judge delivered the sentence in a Charleston courtroom after Jamie Komoroski, 27, pleaded guilty to all crimes in connection with the April 28, 2023, crash that killed Samantha Miller, 34, and left her husband Aric Hutchinson with a brain injury and broken bones hours after they were married.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Husband’s emotional statement to court after wife killed on wedding night.

Komoroski was charged with reckless homicide and three counts of felony DUI.

Circuit Court Judge Deadra L. Jefferson sentenced Komoroski to 25 years for felony DUI causing death. She was sentenced to 10 years and 15 years for her other crimes but will serve those terms concurrently.

Miller and Hutchinson were leaving their reception in Folly Beach last year when the golf cart they were riding in was hit by a car, killing the bride and injuring her groom and two others.

Witnesses said the force of the impact threw the golf cart more than 90m, causing it to roll several times.

During Komoroski’s sentencing, Miller’s broken groom shared his bride’s final words moments before his life was changed forever.

“I have been thinking about what to say since that night, what do you say when your world has been shattered?” he told the court.

“Physically I’m in pain every day ... it’s a struggle to get through every day.

“My world will be forever changed from what happened that night, I think about that night every single day and the last moment 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.”

Hutchinson said the next thing he remembers is waking up in hospital.

“I see my mum’s face, she’s still wearing the wedding dress from the night before, and I knew instantly. That’s why I asked, ‘Where’s Sam?’

“I knew she wasn’t there.”

Hutchinson spoke through tears as he admitted he wished he died that night so his new wife did not have to leave this world alone.

“I wish I saw you coming. I’d have jumped off the golf cart so that you’d only have run me over. We did not get hit, we got ran through at 65mph (104km/h),” he said in an emotional victim impact statement.

“There is no way any three of us should be alive, all four of us should have died that night. I’m a firm believer that Sam saved us, that’s who she is, and she would’ve taken one for all of us and said, ‘Take me and save these guys’.

“The guilt with that that I live with every single second of every day is unbearable. You took the greatest human being I have ever met, she’s not coming back, she’s gone.

“She was my world and I’d give anything for one second to hold her again.”

Komoroski apologised for her “thoughtless” actions and said that she’d been “hopelessly” addicted to alcohol at the time of the crash.

“I take full responsibility for my actions,” she said while looking at the victim’s relatives and loved ones.

“Hopefully, one day you will be able to forgive me. I know forgiveness must be earned.”

-With NBC