Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BRIDE IN WEDDING DRESS MOWED DOWN DEAD: DRUNK DRIVER SNIVELS 'GUILTY' IN COURT

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Samantha Miller and her fiancé, Aric Hutchinson, spent the night celebrating their wedding. When the newlyweds left the reception, a speeding car struck the golf cart they were riding in. Police say Jamie Komoroski was driving 65 mph in a 25 mph zone. Bride Samantha Miller was killed. Jamie Lee Komoroski told officers at the scene that she was heading home when something hit her. However, her home was in the opposite direction. Komoroski admitted to drinking that night but refused to take a breathalyzer test. Komoroski, 25, was charged with three counts of DUI with great bodily injury or death and reckless homicide. As Judge Deadra Jefferson prepared to begin jury selection for the trial, Jamie Lee Komoroski asked to change her plea from not guilty to guilty. She did not negotiate a plea deal, meaning the judge was not obligated to show leniency for sparing Miller’s family a trial. Judge Deadra Jefferson sentenced Komoroski to 25 years for reckless homicide, 15 years for two counts of DUI with great bodily injury, and 10 years for felony DUI. The sentences run concurrently, meaning Komoroski will serve 25 years in prison. She is now requesting her sentence be reduced. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Lisa Miller - Mother of Samantha Miller Mark Peper – Criminal Defense Attorney, The Pepper Law Firm; X: @PeperLawFirm Tom Smith  -  Former NYPD Detective, Co-Host of the GOLD SHIELDS Podcast, https://thegoldshieldshow.com, FB & Instagram: @thegoldshieldshow  Kimberly Cockrell  - Victim Services Manager at Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Website: MADD.ORG FB: Mothers Against Drunk Driving    Insta: @maddnational  Dr. Jorey L. Krawczyn  – Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. – Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide” Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School  Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A bride in her wedding dress mowed down dead. The drunk driver sniveling guilty in court. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. North Carolina bride Samantha Miller and groom Eric Hutchinson have just said their vows

and tied the knot on Folly Beach, South Carolina. Setting off to celebrate the night, they're riding down a beach road in a golf cart when they encounter a deadly surprise. I'm in the golf cart when they encounter a deadly surprise. 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. That is the groom of a beautiful bride mowed down by a drunk driver who just showed up in court sniveling guilty. That's where our friends at ABC4 joining me in all-star panel to make sense of what we know

right now. In the last hours, the sniveling, snotting DUI driver Jamie Lee Komarowski, shows up in court and she paints one picture for us all to believe. She's reading off of a document about how sorry she is and she loses her place. The lawyer has to point to her where to keep reading. That's what she wants me to see. But I want you to see who she really is. Listen. Okay, well, varied minds have different opinions. Yes, you are a bad person, but I'm not the church lady. This is not about whether you're good or bad. This is not whether you're, you know,

whoring out on the corner or you're in the choir loft singing on Sunday morning. This is about the death of a beautiful young woman, a woman who died. After she was slammed into. On her wedding night. In her bride's dress. Her body thrown. Over 100 yards. From her golf cart. Because you Komorowski.

Were drunk. So drunk. That when you stood up. When cops got there. You fell down. You stunk of alcohol but that's me talking let's hear more from the horse's mouth because bad things happen to good people honey that's why it's just it's just fate it's just something that happened to you and we are going to deal with it the best we can okay why do bad things happen to me

what happened is that a bride was murdered on her wedding night the groom is irreparably physically, mentally, and emotionally damaged. He had bleeding to the brain. The golf cart they were driving was found 75 yards away from the crash. Can I just look at this very quickly? I want to go to Kimberly Cockrell joining us, Victim Services Manager at Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Did you just hear the drunk driver over two times the legal limit? She was.26. Now, wait a minute. I was told over two times. That's over three times. Isn't the legal limit 0.08 in that jurisdiction? She's over three times the legal limit. But I'm hearing her say, why is this happening to me? She was taking

absolutely no responsibility at that point. It was the enabling that her family has done got us to this point. What she was in that point was thinking about herself, not what she did that night. Joining us now is Mark Pepper out of Charleston, South Carolina, this jurisdiction, veteran and high profile criminal defense attorney with the Pepper Law Firm. Mark, thank you for being with us. What do you do with a client? She actually said, you know, let's just hear it one more time. Control Room, if you could play 68 again, because I want Mark Pepper to hear this. I still just don't know why this had to happen to me.

Because bad things happen to good people, honey. That's why. It's just fate. It's just something that happened to you and we are going to deal with it the best we can, okay? Bad things happen to good people? You mean like the victim, Samantha, and her husband, Eric?

Them? What do you do with a client that is so self-obsessed she's whining about herself. The woman, the bride is dead. The husband's got so many screws in his mouth, he probably sets off alarms. And she's saying, me, me, me, me, me. What do you do with that?

I wouldn't have even let her stand up and talk. Yeah, Nancy, thanks for having me. One of the toughest parts of our job as criminal defense lawyers is not only dealing with the facts of the case, but dealing with our client and their family members. As we just heard, it was very, very clear early on and likely throughout this prosecution that the family members were simply enabling her. And the reality never sets in until I physically go to the client and make them understand that you can believe whatever you want to believe, that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. That's all good and well. But at the end of the day, you need to understand the

reality, Ms. Komorowski. The reality is you're in a bad spot because of bad decisions that you made and you're facing 25 years in prison. Let's start focusing on how we can mitigate that. Quit talking to your family members. Quit talking to anybody that's going to enable you and tell you what such a good person you have. That's wrong. Okay. We've got work to do.

That is 90% of our job as criminal offense attorneys. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at your screen. Do you see this woman? There's more bread than sack. Let me just say that about her shirt. Okay. But again, not the church lady. I don't care. You're seeing shots just then of Komarovsky. Now that is the woman who put on the crying jag in front of the judge. And I'm not through with the judge yet either. Everybody keeps saying she got the max.

She did not get the max. This judge ran all the sentences concurrently at the same time. They should have been run consecutively, one after the next. But that said, this reminds me of someone else. After the murder of a family member, all they can say is, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Listen, I think you know her.

Just to understand, we're all going in so many different directions. We just want to go in the right one. Well, I can't point you in that direction when I'm literally at a standstill. I am just as removed from the situation as somebody who has no clue what's going on. At least even random people that we've never met have more of an outlook on this than I do right now. It's really sad. That's really really sad that I literally have nothing right now. You are seeing tot mom Casey Anthony on a jail phone call. Her parents constantly have to calm her down because she's obsessed about me me me me me. There she's saying I literally have nothing. Now, your daughter is dead and a trash bag and a swamp woman and you're whining behind bars about your situation? Really? I need a shrink and I need

one right now. Let me go out to Dr. Jory Cross and joining us, a forensic psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, author of Operation SOS. There's got to be something stronger in your DSM manual than narcissistic. There's got to be something stronger. I mean, you see, Tot Mom, two-year-old Kelly is dead, murdered. Okay. You see Komorowski, the bride is dead. She flew through the air 100 yards.

Thanks to Komarovsky. And she's saying, why did this happen to me? What is that? You know, narcissism doesn't just start overnight. You don't become this type of person. We've heard the term enabled. And if you look at it, her life has been full of this enablement. And that keeps her from making choices and decisions.

And the ones she makes are bad. And like this, where she's now regretting, I guess, would be the term. But she still hasn't connected that decision with the outcome of it and the results of it. It may take the 25-year sentence to really reach her in that depth of 11. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. and joining me now in addition to high-profile lawyer mark pepper dave mack kimberly cockrell and dr jory crawson is tom smith you know him well former nypd detective co-host gold shields podcast tom smith i've had about a snootful with Jamie Komarowski. Forget about the top that's more bread than sack, okay? I don't care. But what I do care about is her lying in court. She actually lied, Tom. She said,

I've never been in trouble before. Well, that's BS because she's had three priors. They're listed as speedings, but evidence suggests they're DUIs and it's been sealed. This woman is a walking crime wave and she goes in front of the judge with all of that and lied. Yep. And just look at all the pictures. Every picture you just showed has something in her hand at an event or something like that. Whoa, you're right. You're right, Tom Smith.

How could I ignore evidence? In every photo, she's around some booze. There she is with a solo cup. I guarantee you, that ain't hot tea. You're right, Tom. Yeah, and that goes to the premeditation of making a bad decision. She's made them before. This is just the first time something bad happened.

So she always thought she could get away with it. And that's why it's so important, Nancy, and you know this. That's why it's so important for investigators and police and detectives to show up to the scene and do every single thing correctly so there's no technicalities of her getting away with anything. Is it not bothering you? Mark, there she is in kind of a, I don't know, an ad or promo for Bud Beer. Is it not bothering you, Mark Pepper, that in every shot it's alcohol related or she's drinking and smiling? I mean, the entitlement. What bothers me the most is that as a criminal defense lawyer, when you see these pictures plastered all over Facebook, trial is no longer

an option. Even if you think you have the ability to convince a jury of reasonable doubt regarding the facts, once these pictures come in and it paints the picture of who this defendant was, your options are pretty limited. She clearly, and look, we all went to college. Most of us, we all had a good time and maybe into our young 20s. But if every single picture that's going to be shown to the jury involves a solo cup, if not an actual alcoholic beverage, and you're dressed the way you are, it paints a picture to

the jury without you even having the ability to rehabilitate yourself on the stand. So that's what bothers me the most of all of this is that it takes one huge option for the defense team and puts it completely out the window, leaving her no choice but to plead guilty. Anytime you go into a case where you only have one choice, it's not the best case. And for this woman, I'm bringing in another shrink, forensic psychologist Dr. Sherry Schwartz. Listen.

Hearing about that particular post with Bud Lightyear, what this tells me is this is someone who has incorporated as part of her identity, the humor in having this relationship with alcohol and clearly unhealthy relationship. And as someone who has previously been in legal trouble with a DUI, she's savvy enough to say, I'm not going to blow into a breathalyzer which tells me that she had consciousness of mind to know that she shouldn't be driving. And in the last hours the drunk driver Jamie Lee Komoroski who killed a bride on her wedding night makes an outrageous demand. Believe it or not, just after the sentence, Komorowski insists that the judge reduce her sentence. That's right. Jamie Lee Komorowski, ordered to spend 25 years behind bars, now insists that the sentence was too stringent. They did their sparkler exit where everybody lines up in light sparklers and

they go underneath. She's the happiest I've ever seen her in her life. They got on the golf cart, they left. 10 minutes later, we went to our Airbnb, which was before theirs, so they were still traveling. I started hearing sirens and literally I looked at my daughter and I said, something happened to Sam. I said something happened to Sam. I knew something happened to Sam. You were hearing Sam's mom, Lisa Miller, telling me about the night of the crash. She's about to join us live,

but I want you to hear what else she told me. I called Sam and apologized for calling her on her wedding night, but she called me back and let me know she was okay. And then the family member said, get in the truck. And so me and my daughter got in the truck and she took us to the scene which was maybe a mile away not even two blocks from where they were going to stay i mean my daughter got out of the truck and just started running hand in hand towards the scene and just screaming sam her dad was there and my son waiting at the scene and trying to figure out what was going on. And we were told by somebody, I don't know who,

that everybody had been taken to the hospital. And so my daughter and I went to the hospital. Joining us now is a very special guest who I consider a friend. This is Samantha's mother, Lisa Miller. Ms. Miller, thank you for being with us. Sure. Thank you for having me. Ms. Miller, I've thought about you so many times since we last spoke, and you have been through hell.

Is it any better after the sentence? If it's supposed to be it's not yet i mean i'm glad that she got the max time for sure because we have the rest of our lives to deal with this tragedy we were sentenced to life so 25 years she still got off pretty easy people say that justice for Samantha and yes the girl got the most time

but that doesn't take away the pain it doesn't take away the heart aching for your daughter the part of you as a mom that dies, that's all still there. You know, Ms. Miller, with every little injury, every little cut, every little heartache that your child goes through, sometimes I think, Lisa, that the mother feels it 10 times over. I still relive hurts or disappointments that my twins had when they were itty-bitty.

I remember them and how upset I would be for them long after they've moved on. I remember that. And I've just been thinking about you so much. What was it like in that courtroom? I couldn't wait to leave. Tensions were high. I think it's just a very heavy, dark atmosphere. Everybody that's everybody feels it.

Everybody that's there feels it. When you saw Jamie Lee Komarowski in the courtroom, what went through your mind? I understand that I'm supposed to, and what happens to a lot of people whose children or friends or parents get killed by drunk drivers, that I'm supposed to hate her. For whatever reason, I think we had so much other things thrown at us. I do not think about this girl. I didn't want to do bad things to this girl. And maybe it's because what I've done for a living for the past 20 years,

I'm a drug and alcohol counselor, and she made some really bad choices. She didn't wake up that morning and say, I'm going to kill Sam. It wasn't a personal thing. Did her choices result in the death of my daughter that's killing me every single day? Yes. Obviously, I'm not her biggest fan. And thank God that she's going to spend a very large portion of her life having a lot of time to think about what she did and her poor decisions.

And the fact that she's made no attempt to get any treatment. When you said you don't hate her, I know exactly how you feel. The day I saw the man that murdered my fiance in court, I was numb. And to this day, I still don't hate him. I don't care anything about him. Right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And the hurt is what I felt and feel over that. Mark Pepper joining us, high profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction. Part of the rules of the

road are that you don't have a right to drive. It's a privilege. So when you are pulled over, you are supposed to, if asked, if directed, submit to a breathalyzer. And if you don't, that in itself is a violation of the law. It is. And it suspends your driving privileges for six months. We don't have actual breathalyzers on the scene. What she was asked to do was to perform fetal sobriety tests, which you are allowed to decline. You're then, if probable cause exists, as it did here, you're taken to a hospital to be checked out. You're taken to a jail. And at that point, you're administered the BA test. She's within her right to decline it. It does come with

consequences though, Nancy, as you pointed out in our state, when you sign up to be a licensed driver in South Carolina, you acquiesce to give a blood, excuse me, a breathalyzer analysis test at any point in time. If you decline it, such as she did here, you automatically lose your license for six months. It's a choice she made. So she had the wherewithal to refuse to take the BAC, the breath analyzer. She knew enough to know she was drunk. When she stood up, and correct me if I'm wrong, Dave Mack, when she got out of the car for police, she immediately fell down drunk. They could smell her. She stumbled. You know, Dave, I've dealt with so many DUIs and HIV habitual violators

that actually come to court drunk and it's not their breath. It's their skin. They actually smell like alcohol. Their body stinks. And she was so out of it she thought she had been hit. But wait,

you've got to hear who she blames. Listen. And it was a golf cart. I know, honey. We know, honey. A golf cart is going to be allowed on the freaking road. This could happen to anyone. Like, why me?

Like, why me? I don't understand. Like, why me? Like, why me of all people? Why me? I don't understand. Like, this could have happened to so many other people. As a matter of fact, she lied to police. She lied in court and, in my mind, still got a lenient sentence. She could have been looking at 25 plus 15. That's 35, 40 plus 10, 50 years behind bars.

She got 25, which I think is like going to Kmart and getting a two-for-one special. That said, she's blaming the victim for being in a golf cart. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I want to go straight back out to Lisa Miller, Samantha's mother. That night, from leaving Sam's beautiful wedding, I remember what you told me.

That you heard sirens and you knew. You knew. And you said something's happened to Sam. Yep. I knew it. I mean, I know this sounds weird, but even back 35 years ago, I guess,

when, you know, I became pregnant with her, I was at the beach. You know, I was young. On the way home from the beach that day, I said to my girlfriend, watch me be pregnant. I'm like, Sam and I have always been, it's weird. Just really, really, really the connection. And I think a mom in general is so connected to her kids. I think that I've done some research and scientifically, when the child comes out of you, there are cells that are left inside of you. I can tell you I hurt but

I'm missing too it's more like I'm not me anymore a gigantic part of me is it's gone with Sam and I feel like I'm half a person I go back and look at pictures even pictures of me and I'm'm like, where's that person? Where's that smile? Where's that positivity? Which I still try, you know, I'm getting some back. But I think that's just like, might as well have amputated my leg. You know, I think that's what it's like, is that you have to learn to live your life moving forward without these parts and

that's about the closest thing i could kind of relate it to um it's just literally losing some parts of your body and what people do when they you know they get something amputated you know they're never to be the same. They have to learn how to live without those parts. And so that's what we're working on. That's really interesting what you're saying, Ms. Miller. I've had people say, you had a total personality change after Keith was murdered. I don't even remember that girl.

That girl they say I used to be. I don't even remember what that was. But they all, separated in time and space, say you're not even the same person you used to be. I don't even remember what that was. But they all, separated in time and space, say you're not even the same person you used to be. And I can't explain, I cannot explain that. I've compared it to, people talk about closure. That's total BS. There's no such thing. There's no such thing. I've talked about how maybe it's like you break your arm and you never get it set,

but you go on to learn to flip a pancake. It's never the same, but you manage to, as you say with an amputated leg, you manage to find a way to walk. But it's never the same. You're not the same. And in the last hours, Komorowski's lawyers in court showing, quote, unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for her actions and therefore because of her, quote, genuine expressions of remorse, tomorrow, and until I take my last breath on this earth. And I'm forever yours. Most of the hour before you can live.

From our friends at ABC7, that is the groom who suffered bleeding to the brain and massive, massive internal trauma, many broken bones. Eric Hutchinson stating, I will love you today, tomorrow, and every day until I take my last breath on this earth. I was supposed to have her before you killed her. And throughout this, the DUI, booze after a booze-filled day of bar hopping, lies to police that she had one beer and one tequila,

falls down drunk, stinks to high heaven. Here is the DUI driver whining and complaining because her grandparents are taking care of her cat. Okay, well, okay, here's my thing, here's my thing. That's not their f***ing cat. That's my cat. Hang on, you need That's not their f***ing cat. That's my cat. Hang on. You need a reality check real quick right now, girl. That's not your cat right now because you left that cat in an unfortunate situation,

and they're taking care of the cat now. No, that's not. I'm telling you, that's my cat. I'm not going to be in here forever. I'm getting, it's going to be like a couple months, and then I'm going to be back home. Wow. Martin Pepper, high-profile lawyer in this jurisdiction, on another jail call, she states, I will be living my, quote, best life in less than two years out of here. Whoopsie.

Yeah, no, she's going to be living a really, really well-deserved, rough life in the South Carolina Department of Corrections for at least the next 20 to 21 years with credit for time served given yesterday, which is exactly where she should be. Don't forget, Nancy, that this judge could have given her a minimum of one year. That's what our statute allows, one to 25 years. 25 years along with the 15 and 10 run concurrently. I know that you'll disagree, which I respect, but when we talk about the sentencing rules of the road, rehabilitation, deterrence, removal, I think Judge Jefferson

wisely chose 25 years. That's what the law allows for. Rehabilitation, she's already had three, we think, DUIs to rehabilitate. She is no more rehabilitated than the man in the moon. I can't believe you actually said that. Rehabilitate?

You can't get rehabilitated in 22 years. That ended after the first DUI. Well, allegedly the first DUI. I believe that it was dismissed and a reckless driving ticket was gone. But 25 years, you're removing the individual from society. Did you say the DUI was dismissed? Well, the initial one that's been alleged to have occurred, I believe, was a reckless driving. Nonetheless, Nancy, I have no problem with this.

Yeah, the DUI was dismissed. So she caught a break that time. And then after that, there were two more. And now Samantha is dead. You know, the degree of entitlement of this woman to Sam's mom, Lisa, what about it? I think that what we have here is a young lady that has been bailed out because her family has money and has not been held accountable for any of her poor choices. And when you continue to bail somebody out,

they're never going to learn. And she has not suffered any consequences. So she continues the same behavior. And unfortunately, it happens a lot. And a lot of my patients, they've been enabled and their parents take care of everything and fix it and trying to protect them. But they're not really protecting them because now my daughter's dead. Now to Kimberly Cockrell, joining us from Columbia, South Carolina, Victim Services Manager at MAD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Kimberly, so often I see people, including the DUI driver themselves, act like it was all just a misunderstanding. You know, I had a couple of drinks. This really happened to me. I didn't do anything wrong. And that's what

we're seeing here. And Lisa, Sam's mother, is saying that she has been bailed out. We just heard Mark Pepper say that the original DUI charges, we think, were dismissed. There have been three priors, three prior incidents. And now this. I don't like it when DUI crashes are referred to as accidents. It's not an accident. Kimberly, can you explain why? The word accident is something that grates on my nerves so much when it comes to DUI crashes. I lost my best friend 23 years ago almost. And if I hear the word accident one more time when it refers to one of these, that was not an accident. An accident is a child runs out into a street after a ball. And you're not drunk. You're not on your phone. You're not looking down

messing with the radio. You hit this child, and you do everything you can to stop. That is an accident. What this woman did that night was no accident. She was egregiously drunk. She made a choice. That choice took Samantha Miller's life. Samantha Miller had so many things to look forward to in her life. And mind you, one of them was getting back home to her cat, who will never see her again. Listening to you, listening to her talk about her cat and how she's annoyed that her grandparents are taking care of that. Do you know that Lisa Miller would give anything, anything for her daughter to actually hold her cat again? These are not accidents, Nancy. These are crashes. These are collisions. And they are choices made by these drivers. Honey, we know, honey, okay? How come you're going to be loud on the freaking road?

This could happen to anyone. Like, why me? Like, why me of all people? Why me? I don't understand. Like, this could have happened to so many other people. We're married to go to alcohol rehab. Okay?

Okay. That's part of it. Right? How long is that? Four to six weeks. All right. Well, listen. If it helps the case, then I'll do it.

Might help you a little too. Sure. Well, yeah, you know, more information is coming out about what happened. Such as? Your BAC level, you know, blood alcohol level. Did I just see her roll her eyes? I feel so bad for the father, Mark Pepper. The dad is sitting there in his t-shirt going, hey, honey, you're going to have to go to alcohol rehab. She's like, how long is that?

He goes four to six weeks. And she goes, did you did you see that? Should I believe you or my lying eyes? Because I just saw that. Yeah, no, I saw it. And Nancy, as you're probably aware, my firm successfully sued the sheriff's office to get those jail tapes released on behalf of a local media outlet. And it was sick to my stomach when I was listening to all 15 hours of those jail tapes. It made me sick both personally and professionally.

On one hand, you clearly can see this father trying to get her to understand the reality, the gravity of the situation that she's in, and she's rolling her eyes. On the other hand, as the criminal defense attorney in me, you look at it and you say, how in the world can we try this case? A jury is going to hate her.

And now we're stuck with one option. We've got to plead her guilty. Why it took so long to get to this point, I don't know. But nonetheless, I hope it gives the family some closure to this tragedy. Okay, you know, just because you went through so much, and I want to thank you for that, Mark. I mean, I know you're a veteran trial lawyer. I know you're a high profile attorney in this jurisdiction. You really went to bat so the truth could come out in this case. I really appreciate it because I've dealt with so many defendants, so many, and they act

completely differently in front of a jury than they do behind closed doors. Like she is just using her dad up. If I could just have my dad back for five minutes and the way she's treating her family, her father, the poor guy's just trying to keep his daughter out of jail. He's doing anything. I guarantee you had a hand in getting her out of those last three incidents. It makes me wonder when she says, he says, more is coming out about what happens. You know, such as. It makes me wonder if there's more to it than I even know.

There are multiple layers to that onion, all of which at the core of it is a woman, girl that just has no grasp on the reality of the situation, the consequences of her action, the eye rolls, the sure. I mean, as a parent, to look in your daughter's eyes, knowing that she has just killed someone, maybe at this point, maybe even multiple people. You're doing everything you can to get her to understand the gravity of the situation,

the consequence of her action, the money that's being spent on experts and lawyers that these parents, grandparents are spending. And yet she sits there and simply acts like it's just any other day

this was just a tragedy all the way around and my heart obviously goes out to the Miller family and the Hutchinson family to top it all off we learn that the drunk driver Komorowski is now insisting the sentence that she just got be thrown out and that she get a lighter sentence. Incredible. And not in a good way. Joining me now is Dr. Kendall Crowns, Chief Medical Examiner, Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth, esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. Dr. Kendall Crowns, I need you now because all of our focus has been on the DUI killer, her sentence, what she did and didn't do in court,

what she did behind bars. I want to talk about Samantha, the bride, the bride who was ejected and thrown 100 yards in her wedding dress to her death. What were her injuries, Dr. Kendall Crowns? Her injuries would be very comparable to her husband's injuries with the multiple extremity fractures, the head injury, and the rate of speed that the golf cart was hit at.

She probably would have had whiplash injuries, cervical spine saturations. Combined with that, internal hemorrhages of the brain, possible fractures of the ribs, contusions, lacerations of the lungs, heart, and other internal organs. Dr. Crowns, I'm just trying to imagine what the impact must have been because there were no skid marks.

I think she may have hit the brakes one time. But this crash, I can't even make out what that is. The car is just a jumble. And the bride was thrown 100 yards plus. I mean, would she have died upon impact? It's possible that she could have died on impact because the car is coming at such a high rate of speed and striking a golf cart, which has very little crumple zone, very little protection for the occupants. And the fact she flew 100 yards means that the decedent was shot out of the vehicle at a high rate of speed. And then depending on how much she weighs,

was able to go 100 yards. So the accident itself gave her an initial velocity that made her basically into a meat missile that flew through the air until she came to rest 100 yards later. Odds are she's dead on impact, but you would really have to look at the injuries. My theory is she's probably got massive skull fractures,

massive cervical spine fractures, massive cervical spine fractures, probably killed her instantly and then flung her body 100 yards. Dr. Kendall Crowns, what about the groom, Eric? Because he is apparently still undergoing rehab. What were his injuries? So he has fractures of his legs. He has fractures of his, I believe his ribs. He also has skull fractures. He had traumatic brain injury, which means basically he had hemorrhage in his brain or bleeding in his brain from the course of impact. And so all those injuries, especially the brain injuries, he's probably has to relearn how to walk, probably relearn how to talk, and any number of things that go along with brain injuries. And he'll have pain from the fractures and

other issues from the brain injuries for the rest of his life. Dr. Crowns, we know that Samantha was thrown from the wreck 100 yards, declared dead at the scene. The groom, Eric Hutchinson, two broken legs, broken bones in his face and a brain injury. Yet Jamie Komorowski is uninjured, completely uninjured. How does that happen, doctor? Yeah, so that's always fascinating to me because I've seen these DUI-type collisions throughout my career, and it's always the person that's hit by the drunk driver that gets killed, and the drunk driver, for whatever reason, has very little to no injury. It could be that she was seat belted. It could be the fact that her car was heavier than the golf

cart. It took a lot less impact damage from the golf cart. You know, when you hit a human being, you don't usually have injuries to the car itself because the car is like a tank. There's other theories that the drunk person is more relaxed and then on impact, they just don't get the injuries you see with people that are bracing for impact. Dr. Crowns, Sam's father had

to identify her from her tattoo. That was the only way he could identify her. What does that tell you? She had so much facial and head trauma that her actual head was not identifiable. So she could have had massive skull fractures that caused tearing of her facial skin and distorting of her facial features. Her head could have been so crushed that you just couldn't make out her face. All of this because of a drunk driving. And it was by far not the first time for this woman. Our prayers tonight with Samantha's groom, Eric, and her family. Nancy Grace signing off.

Goodbye, friend.