NJ native denied bail in death of SC bride hours after wedding

🔵 Jamie Komoroski is charged with Samantha Miller’s death hours after her wedding

🔵 Her blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit the night of the crash

🔵 Attorneys proposed bond releasing her into the custody of her mother

New Jersey native Jamie Komoroski will remain in a South Carolina jail while awaiting trial over an April crash that killed a woman hours after her wedding.

Komoroski, 25, a native of Clinton, was driving a rental car at 65 mph on a beach road in Folly Beach around 10 p.m. on April 28 when she slammed into the back of a golf cart, according to the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.

Samantha Miller, 34, of Charlotte, was killed.

Miller’s husband, Aric Hutchinson, suffered a brain injury and numerous broken bones after the golf cart rolled over several times and he was thrown 100 yards. The other passenger, Ben Garrett, was also injured.

The toxicology report by the Folly Beach Department of Public Safety determined Komoroski had a blood alcohol level of 0.261, South Carolina’s legal limit is 0.08.

Judge denies bond for release

Circuit Court Judge Michael Nettles on Tuesday denied a request by her attorneys, former Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni and former federal prosecutor Nathan S. Williams, for her to be released into the custody of her mother. The judge was concerned that she is a flight risk.

In a motion for bond filed in May with the South Carolina Court of General Sessions, Gramiccioni and Williams proposed that bail be set at $100,000, which would release Komoroski to the custody of her mother in Brick. Her mother also offered to take a leave of absence from her job as a paraprofessional and rent an apartment in Charleston.

Under the terms, Komoroski would also have been required to successfully complete an inpatient rehabilitation program and have no access to a vehicle or alcohol.

Two families impacted

Komoroski fought back tears during the hearing via video from jail.

Members of both families spoke for and against the motion. Miller’s mother Linda Miller said Komoroski “killed us all.”

Her father, Charles Komoroski III, told the judge that he would do anything to help his daughter, according to coverage by The Post and Courier. She has acknowledged a problem with alcohol and has had time to consider how she could help people with addictions.

Gramiccioni told the judge that Jamie Komoroski has strong ties to Charleston since graduating from Coastal Carolina University. She has lived and worked in Charleston since.

Setting a deadline

In denying bail, Nettles urged both sides to find a way to expedite the trial in order to give closure. Nettles set a deadline of March 2024 for the state to begin the case or Komoroski would be released on $150,000 bond and remain in Charleston County.

“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,” Gramiccioni said in a statement.

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