Featured Image Credit: WCNC / Charleston Sheriff Office
Topics: Crime, US News, Jamie Lee Komoroski
Emily Brown
Topics: Crime, US News, Jamie Lee Komoroski
An American woman who has been charged with killing a bride on her wedding day has claimed she doesn't think she's a 'threat to society'.
Jamie Lee Komoroski is facing three counts of counts of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury or death and one count of reckless homicide after she struck bride Samantha Miller and two others in Folly Beach, South Carolina on 28 April.
Miller died as a result of the incident, while her new husband Aric Hutchinson was among those left injured in the aftermath.
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Officers have claimed Komoroski was driving her Toyota Camry at twice the legal speed limit when she struck the golf cart carrying Miller and Hutchinson on their wedding day.
A toxicology report revealed Komoroski's blood alcohol content exceeded three times the legal level.
A judge denied bond in Miller's case last week, meaning she will remain behind bars until her trial.
Komoroski is now being held in custody at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, from where she has made phone calls to discuss her case and her future.
In one call, which was recently released by Charleston County Sheriff's Office, the 25-year-old told her dad she didn't 'want to go to prison for 15 years'.
"I don't think I'm a threat to society at all, and I'm not," Komoroski continued. "I'm just scared, dad, I don't want to go away for so so long. I just don't want to be sent away for like 15 years or something."
Komoroski's claims echo those made by her attorneys as they sought to get bond for the accused, telling the court she had no criminal history and is not a threat to public safety.
They said Komoroski would attend a substance abuse rehab program if released, before being sent to live under her mother’s supervision.
In a statement, defense attorney Chris Gramiccioni argued: “We appreciate the court’s decision to release Jamie on bond in March 2024 if the State is not ready for trial, but we nonetheless believe that she has met the legal criteria for release today."
Meanwhile, Miller's mother told the court Komoroski 'didn’t just kill [her] child', adding: “She killed all of us.”
In her calls from the jail, Komoroski spoke with her parents how much she missed them.
"I'm so sorry," she said to her father at one point, to which her father responded: "You don't have to tell me you're sorry.
"Do you understand me? I know that you are sorry. I know you made a mistake, but guess what? It's over and there's nothing that can be done about it. Now, we have to think about today and tomorrow, ok?"
Komoroski will remain in jail until at least March 2024, though if her trial does not start by then she will be released under certain conditions, including house arrest.