Left: Jamie Lee Komoroski (via Charleston County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Office. Right: Aric Hutchinson and Samantha Miller, moments after getting married on April 28, 2023 (via GoFundMe).
Lawyers for the alleged drunk driver accused of killing a bride and seriously injuring her groom as they were leaving their reception in a golf cart say that there should not be a “rush to judgment” of their client.
Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, is charged in the death of Samantha Miller, 34, who died on April 28 after being struck by a car Komoroski was driving on a road in Folly Beach, South Carolina. Miller and her husband, Aric Hutchinson — who had married just hours earlier — were leaving their wedding reception in a golf cart.
First responders said Komoroski’s breath smelled of alcohol. She said she had had a beer and a drink with tequila about an hour earlier and “strongly refused” to submit to a sobriety test.
Komoroski’s lawyers, Nathan S. Williams and Christopher S. Gramiccioni, have released a statement to the Post & Courier, according to the New York Post.
“We cannot fathom what the families are going through and offer our deepest sympathies,” the attorneys reportedly said in the written statement. “We simply ask that there not be a rush to judgment. Our court system is founded upon principles of justice and mercy, and that is where all facts will come to light.”
According to the New York Post, Williams is a former federal prosecutor known for trying racist mass shooter Dylann Roof. At the same time, Gramiccioni was a prosecutor in Monmouth County, New Jersey, before going into private practice in 2021.
According to investigators, Komoroski’s car was going 65 mph when she hit the golf cart from behind, causing it to be thrown 100 yards and roll several times after impact.
Miller died at the scene, while Hutchinson suffered serious injuries, including a brain injury. The other two passengers in the car — Hutchinson’s brother-in-law Benjamin Garrett and Garrett’s son Brogan, 17 — were also injured, Benjamin Garrett seriously.
Komoroski has been charged with three counts of DUI causing serious bodily injury/death and one count of reckless homicide.
In an update to a GoFundMe page, Aric Hutchinson’s mother, Annette Hutchinson, provided details about the extent of her family’s injuries.
From the accident Aric received multiple injuries including two broken legs, one which had to be surgically repaired. Broken bones in his face which also had to be surgically repaired. Broken vertebrae’s in his back, brain bleeds, and numerous cuts with stitches. He is physically recovering at home while trying to come to terms with the loss of his beautiful wife. Now he is doing the unimaginable of planning Sam’s funeral along with her family.
Ben is recovering in the burn unit where he underwent surgery to clean out and redress his severe road rash and open wounds. Plastic surgeon’s also addressed his facial stitches and some on his hands. He will need another skin graft back home in Utah at some point. He needs to be able to put weight on his legs, and his wounds to start healing before he can return home.
Brogan Garrett suffered minor injuries, Annette Hutchinson wrote.
“Our hope is that with love and support, he can get through the trauma of having been involved in this horrific accident at 17,” the fundraising page says.
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