The drunk driver who killed a newlywed bride minutes after her wedding reception wants a South Carolina judge to reduce her prison sentence.
Jamie Lee Komoroski admitted she was drunk when she plowed into a golf cart carrying Samantha Miller, 34, and her new husband, Aric Hutchinson, his brother-in-law and a nephew. Miller was killed in the crash, in which Komoroski was driving 65 miles per hour, and the others were serious injured.
Komoroski pleaded guilty earlier this month to reckless homicide, felony DUI involving death, and felony DUI with great bodily injury for the April 2023 crash and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
But in a 77-page filing on Thursday, her attorneys complained that her setened was “unwarranted and grossly disproportionate” to other similar cases, although none of those similar case involved killing a newlywed just after the wedding, Law&Crime reported.
The attorneys said that sentencing for the same charges in the same court ranged from nine to 18 years in prison. In some cases, the attorneys said, defendants have spent just three years in prison.
Komoroski refused a field sobriety test after the fatal crash and told police she’d only had one beer and a tequila an hour earlier despite reeking of alcohol. She also told a witness repeatedly that she “did nothing wrong.”
Police obtained a warrant for a blood alcohol test and found that by that time, her BAC was still more than three times the legal limit.
Komoroski’s attorneys noted that “the gravity of the offense was severe” but provided several mitigating factors, including a lack of criminal history, absence of intent to kill the vicitm, addressing struggles with alcohol, expressions of remorese, no previous DUIs, acceptance of responsibility, and the guilty pleas.
“The Court is required to equally consider both aggravating and mitigating factors and, as evidenced by the maximum sentence issued against Ms. Komoroski on each count to which she pleaded, such balancing did not occur,” the filing says.
Komoroski’s attorneys also claimed that media coverage of the case was to blame for the “gross disproportionality” of the sentence.
