Jamie Komoroski Case: Sentence, Motion to Reduce, and Settlements

The Jamie Komoroski case centers on a New Jersey woman who drove drunk into a golf cart on Folly Beach, South Carolina, on the night of April 28, 2023, killing 34-year-old bride Samantha Miller hours after her wedding and critically injuring the groom, Aric Hutchinson. Komoroski pleaded guilty in December 2024 to felony DUI resulting in death and related charges and was sentenced to 25 years, the statutory maximum. Her motion asking the court to reduce that sentence is still pending, and civil settlements tied to the crash have now topped $1 million.¹²

The Wedding Night Crash

Around 10:00 p.m. on April 28, 2023, Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson were riding in a golf cart on the 1200 block of East Ashley Avenue, heading back to their rental home after their wedding reception. Hutchinson’s brother-in-law, Benjamin Garrett, was driving; Hutchinson’s son, Brogan Garrett, was also on board.³

Komoroski, then 25, was driving a rented Toyota Camry at 65 mph in a 25-mph zone when she rear-ended the cart.⁴ The impact threw the cart roughly 75 yards and ejected all four occupants.⁵ Miller was pronounced dead at the scene from blunt force injuries.⁶

Hutchinson survived with broken legs, multiple facial fractures, and a brain injury that required several surgeries.⁶ Benjamin Garrett was hospitalized in a burn unit with severe road rash and broken vertebrae in his back and neck.⁷ Brogan Garrett had minor physical injuries but lasting psychological trauma.³

How Drunk She Was, and Where She’d Been

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division toxicology report put Komoroski’s blood alcohol content at 0.261%, more than three times the state’s 0.08% legal limit.⁴ She refused a field sobriety test at the scene, and officers obtained a warrant for the blood draw.⁵

According to Hutchinson’s later civil complaint, Komoroski had been drinking for hours before the crash. She started at El Gallo Bar and Grill in Charleston, then drove 26 miles south to Folly Beach and moved through The Drop In, The Crab Shack, and Snapper Jacks, consuming beer, tequila shots, and complimentary shift drinks, becoming “noticeably and visibly intoxicated” along the way.⁸

Responding officers said she smelled of alcohol and had trouble standing. She told a sergeant she had only had “a beer and a tequila pineapple an hour ago or so,” rated herself “eight out of ten in terms of being impaired,” and appeared confused about her destination, telling police she was driving toward her house when she was actually going the opposite way, toward a dead end.⁵

Charges and the 25-Year Sentence

On December 2, 2024, Komoroski pleaded guilty in Charleston County Circuit Court before Judge Deadra Jefferson to four charges, receiving these sentences:⁹

Felony DUI resulting in death: 25 years, the statutory maximum
DUI causing great bodily injury, two counts: 15 years each
Reckless homicide: 10 years

The sentences run concurrently, so she will serve 25 years total.⁹ Under South Carolina law, felony DUI resulting in death carries a mandatory range of one to 25 years, and no portion of a mandatory sentence may be suspended or served on probation.¹⁰

What Komoroski and the Victims Said in Court

Komoroski delivered a statement of more than seven minutes before the sentence was imposed. “On the night of April 28 of 2023, I chose to drink and drive which resulted in the death of Samantha Miller and the serious injuries of Aric Hutchinson… this is the worst decision I have ever made in my life,” she said, telling the families she took “full responsibility” and would “always be devastated, deeply ashamed, and terribly sorry.”¹¹

Hutchinson addressed Komoroski directly: “If I had my way, I’d give you life, it seems only fair, you took Sam’s life… I feel like I’m stuck in Hell.”¹² He said all four cart occupants should have died in the collision. Benjamin Garrett, who had been driving the cart, told the court he thinks constantly about whether he could have done anything differently: “It was my only job and I didn’t get to complete it.”¹

The Pending Motion to Reduce Her Sentence

On December 12, 2024, ten days after sentencing, Komoroski’s attorneys asked Judge Jefferson to reconsider the 25-year term. They called the sentence “grossly disproportionate” to other felony DUI cases in the region over the past decade and argued it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The motion cited her lack of criminal history, her guilty plea, absence of intent to kill, alcohol addiction, remorse, and rehabilitation prospects. The defense also said the court had relied on a factual error about her not participating in a detention-center substance-abuse program, which the defense said was unavailable to her, and argued that press coverage should not have functioned as an aggravating factor.¹³

On April 24, 2025, Assistant Ninth Circuit Solicitor Timothy Finch filed a response opposing any reduction, calling the sentence “appropriate and proportionate” and within the mandatory range set by the legislature. The prosecution rejected the defense’s comparisons, pointed to State v. Harrison as the proper standard for proportionality analysis, and called the cruel-and-unusual-punishment argument “flawed.” Finch noted that Samantha Miller’s family was “firmly and uniformly opposed” to a lesser sentence and asked the court to deny the motion without a further hearing.¹⁴¹⁵ Mothers Against Drunk Driving called the sentence “strong and appropriate” and said it should set a new standard in South Carolina for DUI fatalities.¹³ The motion remains pending.

Bond and the Jailhouse Calls Controversy

After booking at the Al Cannon Detention Center on charges of reckless homicide and three counts of felony DUI, Komoroski was initially denied bond.¹⁶ At an August 1, 2023 hearing, Circuit Judge Michael Nettles ruled that if the case had not gone to trial by March 2024, she would become eligible for release on a $150,000 surety bond.¹⁷ The case did not go to trial in that window, and on March 1, 2024, she was released on strict conditions: house arrest, GPS monitoring, a SCRAM alcohol-detection ankle bracelet, no driving, surrender of her passport, and confinement to Charleston County.¹⁸

While she was detained, her phone and video calls from the jail were recorded. After a legal fight over a Freedom of Information Act request, a judge ordered the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office to release the recordings and pay $33,175 in legal fees to the media group that sought them. In the released calls, according to Court TV, Komoroski did not mention the victims or the crash. In one call to her boyfriend, she claimed Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano had met with her and said, “I don’t want you in here, you should be with your family.”¹⁹ The Sheriff’s Office denied giving her any special treatment, saying the contact was routine and that a second encounter was only to introduce her to the detention center’s mental health director.¹⁶

The Civil Lawsuits and Settlements

In May 2023, Hutchinson filed a wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit against Komoroski along with several Folly Beach bars and other entities, alleging the establishments overserved Komoroski despite visible intoxication. The named defendants included The Drop In Bar and Deli, The Crab Shack, Snapper Jacks, El Gallo Bar and Grill, Taco Boy, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Progressive Auto Insurance.²⁰ Taco Boy, where Komoroski worked as a server, was later dropped from the suit after producing surveillance footage and records showing she had not been served there on the day of the crash.²

In June 2024, a judge approved settlements with The Drop In, The Crab Shack, Snapper Jacks, Progressive Auto Insurance, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car totaling more than $863,000.²¹ In December 2025, a final $160,000 settlement was reached with Komoroski’s vehicle insurer, of which Hutchinson was set to receive about $104,587 after legal fees and costs. In exchange, Komoroski was released from further civil liability. Total recovery across all settlements exceeded $1,023,000.²

Where Komoroski Is Now

Komoroski was admitted to the South Carolina Department of Corrections on December 6, 2024. After initial processing at the Graham reception center, she was transferred to Leath Correctional Institution in July 2025, where she remains. Her projected release date is April 24, 2045.²²

Prison records show no disciplinary incidents during her incarceration. She has held facility jobs including work in an addiction treatment unit and as a laundry helper, has earned certificates in digital literacy and workplace skills, and as of mid-2026 is assigned as a teacher assistant.²² Whether she serves the full sentence turns on Judge Jefferson’s ruling on the still-pending motion to reduce it.

1
Live 5 News. Woman Sentenced in Crash That Killed Folly Beach Newlywed After Pleading Guilty
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Live 5 News. Final Settlement Reached in Wrongful Death of Folly Beach Bride
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CountOn2. Trial Scheduled for Jamie Komoroski, Woman Accused in Golf Cart Crash That Killed New Bride
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CNN. Newlyweds Drunken Driving Accident BAC
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ABC News. Suspect Charged in DUI Crash That Killed Bride in South Carolina
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People. Groom Accepts Settlement in DUI Crash That Injured Him and Killed His Bride on Their Wedding Night
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ABC 7 NY. Folly Beach Golf Cart Crash
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NBC News. Groom Whose Wife Was Killed in Wedding Night Crash Files Suit Against Driver and Bars
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ABC News 4. Jamie Lee Komoroski Sentenced to 25 Years for DUI Crash That Killed Samantha Miller
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Justia. South Carolina Code Section 56-5-2945
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Daily Voice. DUI Driver From NJ Who Killed Bride Delivers Desperate Apology Before Sentencing
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Court TV. Deadly Wedding Night Trial: Victim’s Husband Makes Emotional Statement
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ABC News 4. Attorneys for Jamie Lee Komoroski Appeal 25-Year Sentence
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The Post and Courier. Folly Beach Bride Komoroski Lesser Sentence
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ABC News 4. Prosecutors Urge Court to Uphold 25-Year Sentence in Jamie Lee Komoroski DUI Case
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CountOn2. CCSO Releases Jamie Komoroski’s Jailhouse Calls After Court Order
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Court TV. Jamie Komoroski Released 10 Months After DUI Crash Killed Bride
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CountOn2. Bond Set at $150K for Woman Accused in Deadly Folly Beach DUI Crash
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Court TV. Jamie Komoroski Jail Calls: Food, Life Behind Bars Are Main Concerns
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CountOn2. Lawsuit Filed in Folly Beach Crash That Killed New Bride, Injured Groom
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Fox 8. Groom Whose Bride Was Killed in South Carolina Golf Cart Crash Accepts Wrongful Death Settlement
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South Carolina Department of Corrections. Inmate Details – Jamie Lee Komoroski