The grieving father of a bride who was killed after her wedding reception delivered an explosive message to the drunk driver responsible during a court hearing.
On the night of April 28, 2023, Jamie Lee Komoroski was behind the wheel of a car that collided with a golf cart carrying newlyweds Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson in Folly Beach, North Carolina.
The couple, who had gotten married just hours earlier, were leaving their wedding reception when they were struck by the driver, who was speeding at 65 mph in a 25 mph zone with a blood-alcohol content at least three times the legal limit, according to The New York Post.
The impact instantly killed Miller, who was still wearing her wedding dress, while critically injuring Hutchinson as well as two other relatives.
According to The Mirror, the groom suffered two broken legs, extensive facial fractures, and traumatic brain injuries.
On Monday (December 2), Komoroski pleaded guilty at a Charleston County courthouse to reckless homicide, felony DUI causing death, and two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury before her sentencing.
After her sentence hearing, Millier's dad, Bradley Warner, gave an emotional victim statement, revealing that he was a victim of a hit-and-run accident as a child.
Listen to Warner's statement below:In his heartbreaking speech, Warner shared that he sat his daughter down and told her that he was going to try to forgive the person who had hit him.
"Six months later, that hatred is back on with a vengeance," he told the court. "I have never felt this much weight. This person, you took such a beautiful person away."
The anguished father then told Komoroski that he will "hate" her for the "rest of [his] life I’m gonna hate you,” scathingly adding: “And when I arrive in hell, and you come there, I’ll open the door for you.
"You have ruined so many people's lives and I hope you understand what you did because you've taken no responsibility for what you've done," he concluded.
The bride's bereaved husband also spoke in court, sharing his wife's final words before the devastating crash: "She said she didn't want the night to end, I kissed her on the head, the next thing I knew I woke up in hospital," per Daily Mail.
Hutchinson also told Komoroski that sometimes he wished he had died alongside Miller. “I wish I had gone that night, so she didn’t have to go alone,” the 36-year-old said. “I don’t have joy, I don’t have passion, I don’t have drive. I am stuck in hell.
"What do you say when your world is just shattered?" he continued. "I think about that night every single day and the last moments that I had with Sam on the golf cart."
Komoroski, who has been out on bail under house arrest since March, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
She addressed Miller’s family and friends at the hearing, describing herself as a recovering alcoholic, expressing remorse for the accident, and acknowledging that no apology could undo the tragedy that occurred.
She said she would “live the rest of my life with immense regret for what happened that night, adding: "I made the choice to drink and drive...This is the worst decision I have ever made in my life.
“I take full responsibility for the tragic outcome that my decisions have made,” she also told the late bride's loved ones, per Law and Crime. “I will carry this guilt with me for the rest of my life.”
Komoroski has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
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