Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Drunk Driver Who Killed Bride Makes Shocking Request

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Jamie Komoroski was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this month for the 2023 crash that killed Sam Miller on her wedding night. Now, Komoroski is asking South Carolina Judge Deadra Jefferson to reconsider her sentence. Komoroski claims her sentence was too harsh. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at Komoroski's request in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Chris Adams https://x.com/cadamsscCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. I want to address all the victims of the accident I caused and how truly and deeply sorry I am. Jamie Komoroski, the woman who drove drunk and killed a bride on her wedding night, wants the judge to reduce her sentence days after she learns her punishment. I'll tell you why. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Jamie Komorowski drove drunk.

That's not in dispute. legal limit on April 28, 2023, when she got behind the wheel of her car and hit a golf cart carrying newlyweds Sam Miller and Eric Hutchinson, along with members of their wedding party. The crash happened on Folly Beach in South Carolina. Sam was thrown from the golf cart and killed, and Eric and his family members, Brogan Garrett and Benjamin Garrett, were seriously hurt. Samantha was thrown from the golf cart and killed as Komorowski plowed into them, driving 65 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. Jamie Komorowski pleaded guilty earlier this month instead of going to trial. I take full responsibility for the tragic outcome that my decisions have made.

I will carry this guilt with me for the rest of my life. And as much as I wish I could go back in time and have none of this happen, I know that cannot be done. A lesson I have learned is that just because you have good intentions or would never want to hurt anyone, if you aren't being responsible for your actions, you can and you will hurt people. I know I am going to be punished for these actions, and I agree that it is something that must be done. I would like to make it clear that whatever my punishment is, I will use the time to better myself.

Jamie Komoroski is starting that 25-year prison sentence for the crash that killed Sam Miller. I decided to search her on truthfinder.com to see what would appear. Truthfinder is one of the largest public record search services out there. When I looked under criminal and traffic records, Komorowski's criminal charges for that terrible crash appeared in South Carolina, and it will show up from now on. Truthfinder is great because it will show you a person's past and current addresses, criminal and traffic records, social media accounts, phone numbers, and even possible relatives. Right now, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to

www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix, log on, and start accessing information about almost anyone. Before sentencing Jamie Komoroski, Judge Deidre Jefferson heard from Sam Miller's family members, including her husband of only a few hours, Eric Hutchinson. I've been thinking about what to say ever since that night. What do you say when your world shatters? I'm in pain every day. My face hurts, my back hurts, my feet hurt. It's a struggle to get through every day. I see more doctors than I can count. I see more therapists. I see more doctors than I can count. I see more therapists. I see more doctors than I can count.

I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists.

I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists.

I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see more therapists. I see count. I've seen more therapists. More psychiatrists, done more procedures than I ever cared to do, and I still feel like I'm at the same point as when I found out that day. My world will be ever changed with what happened that night. I think about that night every single day. The last moments 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. And then the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital. I see my mom's face, still wearing the wedding dress from the night before. And I knew instantly. And so I asked for Sam. I knew she wasn't there. I was more than anything. You guys mean instead of Sam?

I wish I had died that night. Judge Jefferson also heard from Sam Miller's mother. We've been sentenced to a lifetime of pain. That's with half the world. As a mom, I can't even describe to you I've lost my brother I lost both my dads this is so different and it is scientifically proven

that some kids cells stay in your body this is she died we died and she had to get in your body. She died. We died. And she doesn't get a partial sentence. She doesn't get to come back to life in 10 years

or 20 years. And we don't get to come back to life in 20, 25 years. This is a lifetime. Your Honor, I hope that you consider our plea, and the world's plea and to experience the legal consequences of her action. Thank you. The pain Sam Miller's family has endured is unimaginable. Sam was killed on her wedding night. It was the happiest night of her life. Jamie Kamarowski's lawyers acknowledge the tragedy of what happened, but they say their client was actually sentenced too harshly, calling the 25-year sentence unwarranted and grossly disproportionate.

They cite mitigating factors when it comes to Komoroski as they asked Judge Jefferson to reconsider that sentence. include a lack of any criminal history or any history of violence, unprotected pleas of guilty to spare the victim family members from the difficulty of trial and saving the state time and resources, absence of intent to cause death, known struggles with alcohol abuse and remedial steps taken to address her addiction, genuine expressions of remorse and regret for her actions, history, character, and rehabilitative potential, and no prior history of DUI or DUI-related offenses, and complete and unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for her actions. Komorowski's attorneys also cite a number of cases in the low country of South Carolina, where they say that defendants who committed similar crimes got lighter sentences than Komorowski. Komorowski's defense cites those cases, including the case of Lisa Pistolas,

who drove drunk and killed a person while awaiting trial on a separate DUI charge. Pistolas was sentenced to six years in prison. And there's also Steve Winfield Jones III. He was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison for driving drunk and causing a death. One major reason Komorowski's attorneys believe she got such a tough sentence, media attention. I want to bring in Chris Adams. He is a defense attorney in South Carolina. So, Chris, your first thoughts on this motion for reconsideration of sentence filed by Jamie Komorowski's attorneys. Well, I'm glad that they filed it. I thought the sentence, which was at the high end of the statutory range, was very, very unusual for a guilty plea for somebody who comes in and

waives their right to a jury trial and enters a guilty plea. So I'm glad that they're giving the judge a second opportunity to consider all the factors and hopefully she'll reduce the sentence. I know that the defense pointed to some specific examples that I had mentioned earlier in this, you know, in their filing. But why did you think it was particularly high given the fact that she did plead guilty? Yes, she spared the family the emotional trauma of having to relive this through a trial. She spared the state the expense of going through a trial. She took responsibility. But this was heinous.

I mean, it was a horrible thing that happened. She's driving nearly three times the legal limit, kills a woman on her wedding night, injures her husband critically, injures two other people. I mean, it is an absolute tragedy. It is a horrible crime. On outside of the Supreme Court, it says equal justice under law. And usually what we're talking about with equal justice statewide where people have pled to the exact same charge and no one gets the maximum on a guilty plea. and way too big of dockets, our system would collapse if judges were routinely or even infrequently giving out maximum sentences on guilty pleas. Every lawyer would have to go to their client and say, yeah, I can't let you plead guilty. I know you want to, but you've got to roll the dice. There's no reason not to.

There's, you know, you've got to take your day in front of the jury and and it could take a week or two weeks, and no other cases would get moved. So you have to reward people. The federal system does this. They have three points off or two points off, depending on the severity of the offense, for acceptance of responsibility. Part of that is a showing of remorse. And we've always rewarded remorse and acceptance in this country. It wasn't rewarded in this case.

Her sentence, my end, I had a, and Jeanette, I had a similar issue a number of years ago where somebody went to trial on just this offense and they got a 15 year sentence after a jury trial. We were able to gather all the data from Google around the state of cases where people had had this exact same offense. And the average sentence was somewhere

in the six to 10 year range. A 25 year sentence is a major outlier, and it needs to be reconsidered. STEPHANIE DESMOND- Interesting. One thing that the defense points to is the fact that there was a lot of media attention on this case. And I think that's to be expected. I mean, even the defense acknowledges how tragic this golf cart being, it's a street legal golf cart, minding their own business, talking about how she never wanted this night to end with her new husband. I mean, they've been married a matter of hours and Jamie Komoroski got behind the wheel

of that vehicle driving nearly three times the legal limit. She's going 65 in a 25. I mean, they, they acknowledge this. And, you know, she said at the scene, I guess, that she didn't do anything wrong. And so I think that there was maybe a feeling on the part of the prosecution that she wasn't taking responsibility. Maybe she did it sentencing. But maybe leading up to that, she wasn't or acknowledging that she had a problem with alcohol. But you know, this did have all of the makings of just this horrific, tragic story that would really grab the attention of the media because it's so horrible and tragic and people can, everybody can imagine this being their daughter or their sister or, you know, a friend, anybody can imagine this. So they're saying, look, if there hadn't been so much media attention on this, maybe this sentence would have

been different. Do you agree with that? I suspect that is true. I don't blame the media. They're not blaming the media. This is a story that is certainly media worthy. And the other part is, as a defense lawyer, we run to the media cases. We're like a moth to flame. So, we can't run to the media cases and then complain about the media coverage, although I have done it and others have done it. This was a media case. It makes sense that it was a media case. It was a media case on day one, and it had staying power to continue to be a media case. It's a horrific crime. And for all the things that you stated, and for many more, there's a few times in life that things are more idealistic than when a new baby is born or on a wedding day. And three years later, maybe some of the idealism of marriage might be gone. But on the wedding day. And, you know, three years later, maybe some of the idealism of marriage

might be gone, but on the wedding day, all things are possible for your life and your future. And to have that life lost is tragic. The question becomes, how do we punish somebody who does accept responsibility? And I agree with you. I think great harm. This is a very gifted legal team that she has, two former assistant United States attorneys. These are not soft criminal defense lawyers. These are guys who were career prosecutors. And I'm sure they're horrified by the pain involved in this case. The question, though, is how do you punish somebody who enters a guilty plea and certainly grief so people who commit offenses also end up grieving they go through the grieving cycle even though they didn't know the person they're grieving

for the death that they caused they're also grieving for the the how their life has been disrupted they're grieving for the pain they see their family members going through because they all have hopes and dreams for their child too, who now finds themselves charged with a very serious offense. So a person goes through a lot when they find themselves in jail. There were some jail recordings that were obtained by the media early in this case in a first in South Carolina and a retired Supreme Court justice was assigned over this matter. And she said the media gets it. And those videos harmed the defendant and harmed her father quite a bit. It looked like they didn't care. I'll tell you, as somebody who's representing a lot of

people, you just can't have people on the verge of suicidality the entire time in the case. You have to get them to a lighter place so you can help them and help them get into programs and help them find counseling so they can figure out how to make something positive of this horrible event they were responsible for. And I think that's what we saw with her. It's just most of the time that is not public fodder. And I think that hurt her. Judge Jefferson, what can you tell us about her? Is she known as somebody who sentences people in a tough way? Is she a tough on crime kind of judge?

She has been a judge most of her professional career. She was a family court judge for a long time before becoming a circuit court judge. She's been the chief administrative judge here. And so I'm never going to say anything negative about the chief administrative judge or a judge in my circuit that I see frequently. So we do have the ability to judge shop in South Carolina, which is unusual. It's an arch an archaic factor in our system. I'm surprised the case went in front of her. The lawyers would have probably been able to maneuver if they were concerned about her. So I think I assume they thought their chances were decent with her.

She is not she's not known to be someone who maxes people out on guilty pleas. Interesting. I think you're going to be successful here because this just to me, you know, this does seem like the type of case where maybe the judge was sending a message. And because of the recordings you mentioned earlier and some of the things that had come out, do you think she does reduce the sentence? Or, you know, I just, I don't know. I don't know if I see it. I don't know if I see it happening. Obviously, the prosecution will respond. The solicitor's office will respond to this motion. They'll respond and say, this is an appropriate sentence. Please, you know, there's nothing to reconsider. There's no new ground here. I hope that she does. Whether she will or not, I don't know. And I hope that she does on the principle that for a first-time

offender to receive a maximum punishment at a guilty plea really sends a terrible message to the hundreds of other people stuck in the county jail trying to figure out how they're going to resolve their case and the thousands more in the next decade that will be in the county jail coming in so it's a real systemic problem if if judges give the max um i would think in a non-media case, this would be very appropriate for the sentence to be reduced. And I say that not just because of the spotlight on the judge. The judge isn't going to want to appear that she's not strong in her convictions. But it's also a media case because of the horrendous nature of the case. And so those factors, the fact that everyone's watching and you'd be open

to criticism if you reduce it or you don't reduce it, and that there are terrible acts in this case may lead her not to reduce it. But it's been common in South Carolina for this motion to reconsider to be filed and for that to be considered sometimes promptly, sometimes years later, and take some prison behavior into account. And judges do reduce sentences. The case I talked about with the 15-year sentence, the judge reduced the sentence, I believe, to eight years once we made the fuller showing. Now, I had not been the trial lawyer. Usually, there's a change of counsel who comes in later to try to touch on factors that may have been missed at the original sentencing and maybe explaining all the different cases statewide that have received much

lesser sentences that are very similar. Maybe that will be a factor that she'll really take under consideration and use as a basis to reduce, even if it's a modest reduction, to reduce the sentence. Well, we will see what happens and what unfolds. The case is just absolutely tragic. Tragic. It's just horrible. Chris Adams, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it as always. Thank you, Anjanette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.