December 17, 2024 • 41 mins
Samantha Miller and her fiancé, Aric Hutchinson, spent the night celebrating their wedding. When the newlyweds left the reception, a speeding car struck the golf cart they were riding in. Police say Jamie Komoroski was driving 65 mph in a 25 mph zone. Bride Samantha Miller was killed.
Jamie Lee Komoroski told officers at the scene that she was heading home when something hit her. However, her home was in the opposite direction. Komoroski admitted to drinking that night but refused to take a breathalyzer test.
Komoroski, 25, was charged with three counts of DUI with great bodily injury or death and reckless homicide. As Judge Deadra Jefferson prepared to begin jury selection for the trial, Jamie Lee Komoroski asked to change her plea from not guilty to guilty. She did not negotiate a plea deal, meaning the judge was not obligated to show leniency for sparing Miller’s family a trial.
Judge Deadra Jefferson sentenced Komoroski to 25 years for reckless homicide, 15 years for two counts of DUI with great bodily injury, and 10 years for felony DUI. The sentences run concurrently, meaning Komoroski will serve 25 years in prison. She is now requesting her sentence be reduced.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Lisa Miller - Mother of Samantha Miller
- Mark Peper – Criminal Defense Attorney, The Pepper Law Firm; X: @PeperLawFirm
- Tom Smith - Former NYPD Detective, Co-Host of the GOLD SHIELDS Podcast, https://thegoldshieldshow.com, FB & Instagram: @thegoldshieldshow
- Kimberly Cockrell - Victim Services Manager at Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Website: MADD.ORG FB: Mothers Against Drunk Driving Insta: @maddnational
- Dr. Jorey L. Krawczyn – Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. – Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide”
- Dr. Kendall Crowns – Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School
- Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A bride in her wedding
dress mowed down dead, the driver sniveling guilty in court.
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
North Carolina bride Samantha Miller and groom Eric Hutchinson have
just said their vows and tied the knot on Fowley Beach,
South Carolina, setting off to celebrate the night. They're writing
down a beach road in a golf cart when they
encounter a deadly surprise.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
On the golfer, showing me you didn't want to night
to ends there on the floor, Kevin.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
That is the groom of a beautiful bride mowed down
by a drunk driver who just showed up in court
sniveling guilty. That's aroun our friends at ABC four joining
me in All Star panel to make sense of what
we know right now in the last hours, the sniveling,
(01:14):
snotting dui driver Jamie Lee Komrowski shows up in court
and she paints one picture for us all to believe
she's reading off of a document about how sorry she is,
and she loses her place. The lawyer has to point
to her where to keep reading. That's what she wants
(01:37):
me to see. But I want you to see who
she really is.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Listen, I'm glad, Okay, Well, varied minds have different opinions.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, you are a bad person, but I'm not the
church lady. This is not about whether you're a good
or bad. This is not whether you're you know, houring
out on the corner or you're in the choir loft
singing on Sunday morning. This is about the death of
a beautiful young woman, a woman who died after she
(02:20):
was slammed into on her wedding night in her bride's dress,
her body thrown over one hundred yards from her golf cart.
Because you, Comarowski, were drunk, so drunk that when you
stood up when cops got there, you fell down. You
(02:41):
stunk of alcohol. But that's me talking. Let's hear more
from the horse's.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Mouth, right, I don't know what's happened to me, because
fan fans happened to good people hating.
Speaker 7 (02:56):
That's why it's just it's just feet. It's just something
happened to you. And we are going to deal with
the reventually.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Today, Why do bad things happen to me? What happened
is that a bride was murdered on her wedding night.
The groom is irreparably physically, mentally and emotionally damaged. He
had bleeding to the brain. The golf cart they were
(03:27):
driving was found seventy five yards away from the crash.
The golf cart flew seventy five yards away from the crash.
Can I just look at this very quickly? I want
to go to Kimberly Cockrell joining US victim services manager
(03:51):
at Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Did you just hear the
drunk driver over two times the legal limits? She's point
TiO six. Now, wait a minute, I was told over
two times. That's over three times. Isn't the legal limit
point zero eight in that jurisdiction? She's over three times
the legal limit? But I'm hearing her say, why is
(04:14):
this happening to me?
Speaker 8 (04:16):
She was taking absolutely no responsibility at that point. It
was the enabling that her family has done got us
to this point. What she was in that point was
thinking about herself, not what she did that night.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Joining us now is Mark Pepper out of Charleston, South Carolina.
This jurisdiction veteran and high profile criminal defense attorney with
the Pepper Law Firm. Mark, thank you for being with us.
What do you do with a client? She actually said,
you know, well, let's just here one more time, Control room,
if you could play sixty eight again, because I want
Mark Pepper to hear this.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
I don't happen to me, because happened to good people.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
To our it's just great. It's just something that happened
to you, and we are going to deal with the.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Okay, bad things happen to good people. You may like
the victim Samantha and her husband Eric. Then what do
you do with the client that is so self obsessed?
She's whining about herself, the woman the bride is dead,
the husband's got so many screws in his mouth he
probably sets off alarms, and she's saying, me, me, me, me, me,
(05:31):
What do you do with that? I wouldn't even let
her stand up and talk.
Speaker 9 (05:33):
Yeah, Nancy, thanks for having me.
Speaker 10 (05:36):
One of the toughest parts of our job as criminal
defense lawyers is not only dealing with the facts of
the case, but dealing with our client and their family members.
As we just heard, it was very, very clear early
on and likely throughout this prosecution, that the family members
were simply enabling her. And the reality never sets in
(05:58):
until I physically go to the client and make them
understand that. You can believe whatever you want to believe,
that good things having to bad people and bad things
having to good people. That's all good and well, but
at the end of day, you need to understand the reality.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Ms.
Speaker 9 (06:12):
Kamarowski.
Speaker 10 (06:13):
The reality is you're in a bad spot because of
bad decisions that you made, and you're facing twenty five
years in prison. Let's start focusing on how we can
mitigate that. Quit talking to your family members, quit talking
to anybody that's going to enable you, and tell you
what such a good person you have that's wrong. Okay,
We've got work to do. That is ninety percent of
(06:35):
our job as criminal offense attorneys.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And we look at your screen. Do you see this
woman there's more bread than sack. Let me just say
that about her shirt. Okay, but again, not the church lady.
I don't care. You're seeing shots just then of Kamarowski.
Now that is the woman who put on the crying
jag in front of the judge. And I'm not through
(06:59):
with the judge. Yet either everybody keeps saying she got
the max. She did not get the max. This judge
ran all the sentences concurrently at the same time. They
should have been run consecutively, one after the next. But
that said, this reminds me of someone else after the
(07:21):
murder of a family member. All they can say is me,
me me, me, me, me, me, me me me. Listen,
I think you know her.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Just to understand, we're all going in so many different directions.
We just want to go in the right one.
Speaker 11 (07:34):
Well, I can't point you in that direction when I'm
literally at a standstill. I am just as removed from
the situation as somebody who has no clue what's going on.
At least even random people that we've never met have
more of an outlook on this than I do. Right now,
(07:54):
it's really sad. That's really really sad that I literally
have nothing right now.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Wow, you are seeing top mom Casey Anthony on a
jail phone call. Her parents constantly have to calm her
down because she's obsessed about me, me, me, me me.
There she's saying, I literally have nothing now. Your daughter
is dead and a trash bag and a swamp woman
(08:25):
and you're whining behind bars about your situation. Really, I
need to shrink and I need one right now. Let
me go out to doctor Jory crass and joining US
Forensic Psychologists faculty, Saint Leo University, author of Operation s OS.
There's got to be something stronger in your DSM manual
(08:45):
than narcissistic. There's gotten to be something stronger. I mean,
you see top mom. Two year old Killy is dead, murdered. Okay,
you see Kamarowski. The bride is dead. She flew the
the air one hundred yards thanks to Karowski, and she's saying,
(09:06):
why did this happen to me?
Speaker 9 (09:09):
What is that?
Speaker 12 (09:10):
You know, Narcosism doesn't just start overnight. You don't become
this type of person. We've heard the term enabled and
if you look at it, her life has been full
of this enablement and that keeps her from making choices
and decisions, and the ones she makes are bad and
like this where she's now regretting. I guess would be
(09:33):
the term. But she still hasn't connect that decision with
the outcome of it and the results of it. It
may take the twenty five year sentence to really reach
her in that depth of.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Elevel crime stories with Nancy Grace joining me now in
this to high profile lawyer Mark Pepper, Dave Mack, Kimberly Cockrell,
and doctor Jory crawlsen Is Tom Smith. You know him well,
(10:09):
Former NYPD detective co host gold Shields podcast, Tom Smith.
I've had about a snoopful with Jamie Komarowski. Forget about
the top. That's more bread than sack. Okay, I don't care.
But what I do care about is sir lying in court.
(10:29):
She actually lied, Tom, She said, I've never been in
trouble before. Well that's bs because she's had three priors.
They're listed as speedings. But Evan, it suggests there do
UIs and it's been sealed. This woman is a walking
crime let or. And she goes in front of the judge.
(10:50):
Was all of that and lied?
Speaker 13 (10:54):
Yep?
Speaker 9 (10:55):
And just look at all the pictures.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Every picture you just showed has something in her hand
at an event or something like that.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, you're right, you're right, Tom Smith. How could I
ignore evidence? And every photo she's around some booze. There
she is with a solo cup. I guarantee you that
ain't hot tea. You're right, Tom, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
And you know that goes to the premeditation of making
a bad decision. She's made them before. This is just
the first time something bad happened, so she always thought
she could get away with it. And that's why it's
so important, Nancy, and you know this. That's why it's
so important for investigators and police and detectives to show
up to the scene and do every single thing correctly,
(11:41):
so there's no technicalities of her getting away with anything.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Is it not bothering you? Mark? There she is in
kind of a I don't know, an ad or promo
for bud Beer. Is it not bothering you? Mark Pepper
that an every shot is alcohol related or she's drinking
and smiling. I mean the entitlement.
Speaker 10 (12:07):
What bothers me the most is that as a criminal
defense lawyer, when you see these pictures plastered all over Facebook,
trial is no longer an option. Even if you think
you have the ability to convince a jury of reasonable
doubt regarding the facts, Once these pictures come in and
it paints the picture of who this defendant was, your
(12:28):
options are pretty limited. She clearly and look, we all
went to college, most of us. We all had a
good time and maybe into our young twenties. But if
every single picture that's going to be shown to the
jury involves a solo cup, if not an actual alcoholic beverage,
and you're dressed the way you are, it paints a
picture to the jury without you even having the ability
(12:50):
to rehabilitate yourself on the stand. So that's what bothers
me the most of all of this is that it
takes one huge option for the defense team and puts
it completely out the window, leaving her no choice but
to plead guilty. Anytime you go into a case where
you only have one choice, it's not the best case.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, for this woman, I bring in in another strength.
Forensic psychologist doctor Sherry Schwartz listen.
Speaker 14 (13:16):
Hearing about that particular post with Bud light Year. What
this tells me is this is someone who has incorporated
as part of her identity the humor in having this
relationship with alcohol, a clearly unhealthy relationship, and as someone
who has previously been in legal trouble with a DUI,
(13:36):
she's savvy enough to say, I'm not going to blow
into a breathalyzer, which tells me that she had consciousness
of mind to know that she shouldn't be driving.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And in the last hours, the runt driver, Jamie Lee Komarowski,
who killed a bride on her wedding night, makes an
outrageous demand. Believe it or not, Just after the sentence,
Kamarowski insists that the judge reduce her sentence. That's right.
(14:06):
Jamie Lee Kamarowski, ordered to spend twenty five years behind bars,
now insists that the sentence was too stringent.
Speaker 15 (14:16):
They did the Sparkler exit where everybody lines up in
like Sparkler's and they go underneath. She's the happiest I've
ever seen her in her life. They got on the
golf cart.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
They left.
Speaker 15 (14:28):
Ten minutes later. We went to our airbnb, which was
before theirs, so they were still traveling. I started hearing
sirens and literally I looked at my daughter and I said,
something happened to Sam. I knew something that happened to Sam.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You are hearing Sam's mom, Lisa Miller, telling me about
the night of the crash. She's about to join us live,
but I wanted to hear what else she told me.
Speaker 15 (14:53):
I called Sam and apologized calling her on her wedding night,
but she called me back and let me know she
was okay, and then the family memory get the truck,
and so me and my daughter got in the truck
and she took us to the scene, which was maybe
a mile away, not even two blocks from where they
were going to stay. Me and my daughter got out
of the truck and just started running hand in hand
towards the scene and just screaming, Tam, Tam, tam. I
(15:19):
heard that was there and my son waiting at the
scene and trying to figure out what was going on.
And we were told by somebody I don't know who
that everybody had been taken to the hospital, and so
my daughter and I went to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Joining us now is a very special guest who I
consider a friend. This is Samantha's mother, Lisa Miller. Miss Miller,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 16 (15:41):
Sure, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Miss Miller. I've thought about you so many times since
we last spoke, and you have been through hell. Is
it any better after sentence?
Speaker 16 (16:02):
If it's supposed to be, it's not yet. I mean,
I'm glad that she got the max time, for sure,
because we have the rest of our lives to deal
with this tragedy. We were sitting to life so twenty
five years. She still got off pretty easy. People say
(16:24):
that justice for Samantha, and yes, the girl got the
most time, but that doesn't take.
Speaker 9 (16:33):
Away the pain.
Speaker 16 (16:34):
It doesn't take away the heart aching for your daughter,
the part of you as a mom that dies, that's
all still there.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You know, miss Miller. With every little injury, every little cut,
every little heartache that your child goes through. Sometimes I think, Lisa,
that the mother feels at ten times over. I still
relive hurts or disappointments that my twins had when they
(17:09):
were itty bitty. I remember them and how I've said
I would before them. Long after they've moved on, you know,
I remember that, And I've just just been thinking about
you so much. And what was it like in that courtroom?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
I couldn't wait to leave.
Speaker 9 (17:33):
Tensions were high.
Speaker 16 (17:34):
I think it's just a very heavy, dark atmosphere, and
everybody feels it. Everybody that's there feels it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
When you saw Jamie Lee Kumarowski in the courtroom, what
went through your mind?
Speaker 16 (17:53):
I understand that I'm supposed to and what happens to
a lot of people whose children or friends or parents
or get killed by drunk drivers that I'm supposed to
hate her for whatever reason. I think we had so
much other things thrown at us. I do not think
(18:14):
about this girl. I didn't want to do bad things
to this girl, you know. And maybe it's because what
I've done for a living for the past twenty years.
I'm a drug and alcohol counselor. And she made some
really bad choices. She didn't wake up that morning and
say I'm going to kill Sam. It wasn't a personal thing.
(18:36):
Did her choices result in the death of my daughter
that's killing me every single day? Yes, obviously I'm not
her biggest fan, and thank god that she's going to
spend a very large portion of her life having a
lot of time to think about what she did in
her poor decisions and the fact that to get any treatment.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
When you said you don't hate her, I know exactly
how you feel. The day I saw the man that
murdered my fiance in court, I was numb and to
this day I still don't hate him. I don't care
anything about him. It's right. Yeah, more pain and the
(19:22):
hurt is what I felt and feel over that. Mark
Pepper joining us high profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction.
Part of the rules of the road are that you
don't have a right to drive, it's a privilege. So
when you are pulled over, you are supposed to, if asked,
if directed, submit to a breathalyzer, and if you don't,
(19:46):
that in itself is a violation of the law.
Speaker 10 (19:50):
It is, and it suspends your driving privileges for six months.
We don't have actual breathalyzers on the scene. What she
was asked to do was to perform field sobriety tests,
which you are allowed to decline here. Then if proble
will cause exists, as it did here, you're taken to
a hospital to be checked out, you're taken to a jail,
(20:11):
and at that point you're administered the BA test. She's
within her right to decline it. It does come with consequences, though, Nancy,
as you pointed out, in our state, when you sign
up to be a licensed driver in South Carolina, you
acquiesce to give a blood excuse me, a breathalyzer analysis
test at any point in time. If you decline it,
(20:32):
such as she did here, you automatically lose your license
for it six months.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
It's a choice she made so.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
She to refuse to take the BAC. The breath analyzer.
She knew enough to know she was drunk when she
stood up and correct me if I'm wrong, Dave Mac.
When she got out of the car for police, she
immediately fell down drunk. They could smell herb You know,
(20:58):
I've Dave with so many duys and HIV habitual violators
that actually come to court drunk. And it's not their breaths,
their skin, they actually smell like alcohol. Their body stinks.
And she was so out of it she thought she
had been hit. But what you've got to hear who
(21:22):
she blames Listen, And.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
It was a golf car.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I know, honey, we know, honey.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
The freaking road and this couldn't happen to anyone, Like.
Speaker 13 (21:35):
Why Like why.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
Why me? I don't understand, like this could have happened
so many other people.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
As a matter of fact, she lied to police, she
lied in court, and in my mind, still got a
lenient sentence. She could have been looking at twenty five
plus fifteen thirty five forty plus ten fifty years behind bars.
She got twenty five, which I think is like you know,
going to kmart and getting a two for one special.
(22:10):
That said, she's blaming the victim. For being in a
golf cart Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm gonna go
(22:31):
straight back out to Lisa Miller, Samantha's mother, that night
from leaving Sam's beautiful wedding. I remember what you told
me that you heard sirens and you knew, you knew,
(22:53):
and you said something's happened to Sam.
Speaker 16 (22:55):
Yep, I knew it, And I mean I know this.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
I'ds weird, but even back.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Thirty five years ago.
Speaker 16 (23:04):
I guess when you know I became pregnant with her.
I was at the beach, you know, I was young
on the way home from the beach that I said
to my girlfriend, watched me be pregnant. I'm like Sam
and I have always been. It's weird, just really, really
really the connection. And I think a mom in general
(23:28):
is so connected to her kids. I think that I've
done some research and scientifically, when the child comes out
of you, there areselves that are left inside of you.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
I can tell you I hurt.
Speaker 16 (23:42):
But I'm missing too. It's more like I'm not me anymore.
A giganic part of me is it's gone with Sam,
and I feel like I'm half a person. I go
back and look at pictures even pictures of me, and
I'm like, where's that person, where's that smile, where's that positivity?
(24:05):
Which I still try, you know, I'm getting some back.
But I think that's just like mislow amputated my leg.
Speaker 13 (24:14):
You know.
Speaker 16 (24:15):
I think that's what it's like, is that you have
to learn to live your life moving forward without these parts.
And that's about the closest thing I could kind of
relate it to. It's just literally losing some parts of
your body. And what people do when they, you know,
(24:35):
they get something amputated, you know, they're never going to
be the same. They have to learn how to live
without those parts. And so that's what we're working on.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That's really interesting what you're saying, miss Miller. I've had
people say you had a total personality change after Keith
was murdered. I don't even remember that girl, that girl
they say I used to be. I don't even remember
what that was. But they all separated in time and space,
say you're not even the same person you used to be,
(25:05):
And I can explain. I cannot explain that. I've compared
it to people talk about closure. That's total bs. There's
no such thing. There's no such thing I've talked about,
how maybe it's like you break your arm and you
never get it set, but you go on to learn
to flip a pancake. It's never the same, but you
(25:26):
managed to, as you say, with an amputato leg, you
manage to find a way to walk. But it's never
the same.
Speaker 16 (25:35):
You're not the same.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
And in the last hours, Kamaraski's lawyers in court showing
quote unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for her actions and therefore,
because of her quote genuine expressions of remorse, her sentence
should be slashed.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So today tomorrow fire my love a Serfore.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
You can learn from our friends at ABC seven. That
is the groom who suffered bleeding to the brain and massive,
massive internal trauma MANI broken bones, Eric Cutchinson stating I
will love you today, tomorrow and every day until I
take my last breath on this earth. I was supposed
to have her before you killed her. And throughout this
(26:31):
the dy booze after a booze field day of bar hopping,
lies to police that she had one beer of one tequila,
falls down, drunk, stinks to high heaven. Here is the
dui driver, whining and complaining because her grandparents are taking
(26:52):
care of her cat.
Speaker 14 (26:54):
Okay, well, okay, here's her thing, here's.
Speaker 13 (27:00):
My cat.
Speaker 15 (27:01):
Hang on, you need a reality check real quick right now, girl,
that's not your cat right now, because you left that
guy in an unfortunate situation and they're taking care of
the cat.
Speaker 13 (27:10):
Now.
Speaker 12 (27:11):
So that's trillion, that's my cat.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
I'm not going to be any here forever.
Speaker 15 (27:15):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
I'm going to be like a couple of months and
then I'm going to be back cold.
Speaker 13 (27:19):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Martin Pepper, high profile lawyer in this jurisdiction. On another
jail call, she states, I will be living my quote
best life in less than two years out of here. Whipsie.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:33):
No, She's going to be living a really, really well
deserved rough life in the South Kinna Department of Corrections
for at least the next twenty to twenty one years,
with credit for time serve given yesterday, which is exactly
where she should be.
Speaker 15 (27:47):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (27:48):
Don't forget, Nancy that this judge could have given her
a minimum of one year.
Speaker 10 (27:53):
That's what our statute allows, one to twenty five years,
twenty five years along with the fifteen and ten runking.
I know that you'll disagree, which I respect. But when
we talk about the sentencing rules of the road, rehabilitation,
deterrence removal, I think Judge Jefferson chose five years.
Speaker 9 (28:14):
That's what the all allows for.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
She's already had three. We think DUIs to rehabilitate. She
is no more rehabilitated than.
Speaker 13 (28:25):
The man in the moon? Are you?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I can't believe you actually said that rehabilitate.
Speaker 9 (28:30):
Get rehabilitated in two years.
Speaker 10 (28:35):
Well, allegedly first to you, I believe that that it
was dismissed, uh and a reckless driving tickets gone.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
But twenty five years, you're removing the.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Individual from I was dismissed.
Speaker 10 (28:47):
Well, the initial one that's been alleged to occurred, I
believe was a reckless driving.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Nonetheless, Nancy d was dismissed such to bring that time,
and then after that there were two mores and two
more and now Samantha is dead. You know the degree
of entitlement of this woman to Sam's mom, Lisa, what
about it?
Speaker 15 (29:13):
I think that what we have here is a young
lady that has been bailed out because her family has money,
and has not been held accountable for any of her
poor choices. And when you continue to bail somebody out,
they're never going to learn. And she has not suffered
any consequences, so she continues the same behavior. And unfortunately
(29:34):
it happens a lot and a lot of my patients.
They've been enabled and their parents take care of everything
and fix it and trying to protect them, but they're
not really protecting them because now my daughter's dead.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Now to Kimberly Cockrail joining us from Columbia, South Carolina.
Victim services manager at mad Mothers against driving. Kimberly. So
often I see people, including the dui driver themselves, act
like it was all just it's a misunderstanding. You know,
I had a couple of drinks. This really happened to me.
(30:06):
I didn't do anything wrong. And that's what we're seeing here.
And Lisa Sam's mother is saying that she has been
bailed out. We just heard Mark Pepper say that the
original dui charges we think were dismissed. There have been
three priors, three prior incidents, and now this. I don't
(30:29):
like it when dui crashes or referred to as accidents,
it's not an accident. Kimberly, can you explain why the.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
Word accident is something that grates on my nerves so
much when it comes to DUI crashes. I lost my
best friend twenty three years ago, almost And if I
hear the word accident one more time when it refers
to one of these, that was not an accident. An
accident as a child runs out into a street after
(30:56):
a ball and you're not drunk, you're not on your
phone phone, you're not looking down messing with the radio. Accident,
You hit this child and you do everything you can
to stop. That is an accident. What this woman did
that night was no accident. She was egregiously drunk. She
made a choice. That choice took Samantha Miller's life. Samantha
(31:20):
Miller had so many things to look forward to in
her life, and mind you, one of them was getting
back home to her cat, who will never see her again.
Listening to you her, listening to her talk about her
cat and how she's annoyed that her grandparents are taking
care of that.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Do you know that Lisa Miller would.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
Give anything, anything for her daughter to actually hold her
cat again. These are not accidents, Nancy. These are crashes.
These are collisions, and they are choices made by these drivers.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
And it was a golf car.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I know, honey, we know, honey.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
On the freaking road. This is just gonna happen to anyone,
Like why me, why why? I don't understand like this
could have have to be so many other people.
Speaker 13 (32:15):
Form there to go to alcohol rehab. Okay, right, okay,
that's part of it. Part right? How long is that?
Four to six weeks?
Speaker 6 (32:34):
All right, well listen, if it helps the case, then
I'll do it.
Speaker 17 (32:42):
Might help you a little too, sure, Well, yeah, you know,
so more information is coming out about what happened, So.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Your vac level.
Speaker 13 (33:01):
Alcohol level?
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Did I just see her roll her eyes? Feel so
bad for the father, Mark Pepper. The dad is sitting
there in his T shirt going, hey, honey, you know
you're going to have to go to alcohol rep rehab.
She's like, how long is that?
Speaker 7 (33:23):
He goes?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Four to six weeks? And she goes, did you see that?
Should I believe you are my lion eyes because I
just saw that?
Speaker 15 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (33:32):
No, I saw it, And Nancy is you're probably aware
of My firm successfully sued the Sheriff's office to get
those jail tapes released on to have a local media outlet,
and it was sick to my stomach when I was
listening to all fifteen hours of those jail tips tapes.
Maybe sick both personally and professionally. On one hand, you
clearly can see this father trying to get her to
(33:54):
understand the reality the gravity of the situation that she's in,
and she's rolling her eyes. On the other hand, as
the criminal offense attorney, and you look at it and
you say, how in the world can we try this case?
A jury is going to hate her, and now we're
stuck with one option. We've got to plead her guilty.
Why it took so long to get to this point,
I don't know, But nonetheless I hope it gives the
(34:15):
family some closure to this tragedy.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Okay, you know, just because you went through so much,
and I want to thank you for that.
Speaker 13 (34:22):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I mean, I know you're a veteran trial lawyer. I
know you're a high profile attorney in this jurisdiction. You
really went to bat so the truth could come out
in this case. I really appreciate it because I've dealt
with so many defendants, so many and they act completely
differently in front of a jury than they do behind
(34:46):
closed doors, Like she is just using her dad up.
If I could just have my dad back for five minutes,
And the way she's treating her family, her father, the
poor guy's just trying to keep his daughter out of jail.
He's doing anything. I guarantee you had a hand in
getting your eye of those last three incidents. It makes
(35:07):
me wonder when she says he says more is coming
out about what happens you go such as it makes
me wonder if there's more to it than I even know.
Speaker 10 (35:14):
There are multiple layers to that onion, all of which
at the core of it is a woman girl that
Jess has no grasp on the reality of the situation,
the consequences of her action, the eye rolls, the sure
I mean, as a parent, to look in your daughter's
(35:38):
eyes knowing that she has just killed someone, maybe at
this point, maybe even multiple people. You're doing everything you
can to get her to understand the gravity of the situation,
the consequence of her action, the money that's being spent
on experts and lawyers that these parents, grandparents are spending.
And yet she sits there and simply acts it's just
(36:00):
any other day.
Speaker 9 (36:02):
This was just a.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
Tragedy all the way around. In my heart obviously goes
out to the Miller family and the Hutchison family.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
To top it all off, we learn that the drunk
driver Homarowski is now insisting the sentence that she just
got me thrown out and that she get a lighter sentence.
Incredible and not in a good way. Joining me now
is doctor Kendall Crown's chief medical Examiner Terrant County. That's
(36:33):
Fort Worth Esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine
at TCU. Doctor Kendall crowns, I need you now because
all of our focus has been on the duy killer,
her sentence, what she did and didn't do in court,
what she did behind bars. I want to talk about
Samantha the bride, the bride who was ejected and thrown
(36:57):
one hundred yards in her wedding dress to her death.
What were her injuries? Doctor Kendall crowns.
Speaker 18 (37:05):
Her injuries would be very comparable to her husband's injuries.
With the multiple extremity fractures, the head injury, and the
rate of speed that the golf car was hit at,
she probably would have had whiplash injury, cervical spine suspurations.
Combined with that internal images of the brain, possible effectors
(37:26):
of the ribs and choos in flabrations of lungs, hearts,
and other internal.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Organ duntor crowns. I'm just trying to imagine what the
impact must have been because there were no skid marks.
I think she may have hit the brakes one time.
But this crash, I can't even make out what that is.
The car is just a jumble and the bride was
(37:52):
thrown one hundred yards plus. I mean, would she have
died upon impact.
Speaker 18 (37:58):
It's possible that she could have dined on impact because
the car is coming at such a high rate of
speed and striking a golf cart which has a very
little crumpled zone, very little protection for the occupants. And
the fact she threw one hundred yards means that the
decedent was shot out of the vehicle at a high
rate of speed and then, depending on how much she weighs,
(38:21):
is able to go one hundred yards. So the accident
self gave her initial velocity that made her basically into
a meat missile that flew through the air until she
came to rest one hundred yards later. Odds are she's
dead on impact, but you would really have to look
at the injuries. My theory is she's probably got massive
skull fractures, massive cervical spine fractures, probably killed her instantly
(38:42):
and then flung her body one hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Doctor Kendall Crown's. What about the groom Eric, because he
is apparently still undergoing rehab. What were his injuries?
Speaker 18 (38:56):
So he has fractures of his legs, he has of
his I believe his ribs. He also had skull fractures.
He had traumatic brain injury, which means basically had hemorrhage
in his brain or bleeding his brains from the course
of impact. And so all those injuries, especially the brain injuries,
he's probably has to relearn how to walk, probably relearn
(39:19):
how to talk, and any number of things that go
along with brain injuries. And he'll have pain from the
fractures and other issues from the brain injuries for the
rest of his.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Life, Doctor Crowns. We know that Samantha was thrown from
the wreck one hundred yards declared dead at the same
the groom Eric Hutchinson two broken legs, broken bones in
his face, and a brain injury. Yet Jamie Kumrowski is uninjured,
(39:54):
completely uninjured How does that happen?
Speaker 18 (39:57):
Doctor, Yeah, so that's always fascinating to me. Have seen
these dui type collisions throughout my career, and it's always
the person that's hit by the drunk driver. They gets
killed and the drunk driver, for whatever reason, has very
little to no injuries. It could be that she was
seat belted. It could be the fact that her car
was heavier than the golf cart. It took a lot
(40:19):
less impact damage from the golf cart, because you know,
when you hit a human being, you don't usually have
injuries to the car itself because the car is like
a tank. There's other theories that the drunk person is
more relaxed and then on impact, they just don't get
the injuries you see with people that are bracing for impact.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Doctor Crown's Sam's father had to identify her from her tattoo.
That was the only way he could identify her. What
does that tell you?
Speaker 18 (40:47):
She had so much facial and head trauma that her
actual head was not identifiable. So she could have had
massive skull fractures that cause tearing up her facial and
distorting her facial features. Her tag could have been so
pressed that you just couldn't make out her face.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
All of this because of a drunk driving and it
was by far not the first time for this woman.
Our prayers tonight with Samantha's groom Eric and her family.
Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A bride in her wedding
dress mowed down dead, the driver sniveling guilty in court.
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
North Carolina bride Samantha Miller and groom Eric Hutchinson have
just said their vows and tied the knot on Fowley Beach,
South Carolina, setting off to celebrate the night. They're writing
down a beach road in a golf cart when they
encounter a deadly surprise.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
On the golfer, showing me you didn't want to night
to ends there on the floor, Kevin.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
That is the groom of a beautiful bride mowed down
by a drunk driver who just showed up in court
sniveling guilty. That's aroun our friends at ABC four joining
me in All Star panel to make sense of what
we know right now in the last hours, the sniveling,
(01:14):
snotting dui driver Jamie Lee Komrowski shows up in court
and she paints one picture for us all to believe
she's reading off of a document about how sorry she is,
and she loses her place. The lawyer has to point
to her where to keep reading. That's what she wants
(01:37):
me to see. But I want you to see who
she really is.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Listen, I'm glad, Okay, Well, varied minds have different opinions.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yes, you are a bad person, but I'm not the
church lady. This is not about whether you're a good
or bad. This is not whether you're you know, houring
out on the corner or you're in the choir loft
singing on Sunday morning. This is about the death of
a beautiful young woman, a woman who died after she
(02:20):
was slammed into on her wedding night in her bride's dress,
her body thrown over one hundred yards from her golf cart.
Because you, Comarowski, were drunk, so drunk that when you
stood up when cops got there, you fell down. You
(02:41):
stunk of alcohol. But that's me talking. Let's hear more
from the horse's.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Mouth, right, I don't know what's happened to me, because
fan fans happened to good people hating.
Speaker 7 (02:56):
That's why it's just it's just feet. It's just something
happened to you. And we are going to deal with
the reventually.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Today, Why do bad things happen to me? What happened
is that a bride was murdered on her wedding night.
The groom is irreparably physically, mentally and emotionally damaged. He
had bleeding to the brain. The golf cart they were
(03:27):
driving was found seventy five yards away from the crash.
The golf cart flew seventy five yards away from the crash.
Can I just look at this very quickly? I want
to go to Kimberly Cockrell joining US victim services manager
(03:51):
at Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Did you just hear the
drunk driver over two times the legal limits? She's point
TiO six. Now, wait a minute, I was told over
two times. That's over three times. Isn't the legal limit
point zero eight in that jurisdiction? She's over three times
the legal limit? But I'm hearing her say, why is
(04:14):
this happening to me?
Speaker 8 (04:16):
She was taking absolutely no responsibility at that point. It
was the enabling that her family has done got us
to this point. What she was in that point was
thinking about herself, not what she did that night.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Joining us now is Mark Pepper out of Charleston, South Carolina.
This jurisdiction veteran and high profile criminal defense attorney with
the Pepper Law Firm. Mark, thank you for being with us.
What do you do with a client? She actually said,
you know, well, let's just here one more time, Control room,
if you could play sixty eight again, because I want
Mark Pepper to hear this.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
I don't happen to me, because happened to good people.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
To our it's just great. It's just something that happened
to you, and we are going to deal with the.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Okay, bad things happen to good people. You may like
the victim Samantha and her husband Eric. Then what do
you do with the client that is so self obsessed?
She's whining about herself, the woman the bride is dead,
the husband's got so many screws in his mouth he
probably sets off alarms, and she's saying, me, me, me, me, me,
(05:31):
What do you do with that? I wouldn't even let
her stand up and talk.
Speaker 9 (05:33):
Yeah, Nancy, thanks for having me.
Speaker 10 (05:36):
One of the toughest parts of our job as criminal
defense lawyers is not only dealing with the facts of
the case, but dealing with our client and their family members.
As we just heard, it was very, very clear early
on and likely throughout this prosecution, that the family members
were simply enabling her. And the reality never sets in
(05:58):
until I physically go to the client and make them
understand that. You can believe whatever you want to believe,
that good things having to bad people and bad things
having to good people. That's all good and well, but
at the end of day, you need to understand the reality.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Ms.
Speaker 9 (06:12):
Kamarowski.
Speaker 10 (06:13):
The reality is you're in a bad spot because of
bad decisions that you made, and you're facing twenty five
years in prison. Let's start focusing on how we can
mitigate that. Quit talking to your family members, quit talking
to anybody that's going to enable you, and tell you
what such a good person you have that's wrong. Okay,
We've got work to do. That is ninety percent of
(06:35):
our job as criminal offense attorneys.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And we look at your screen. Do you see this
woman there's more bread than sack. Let me just say
that about her shirt. Okay, but again, not the church lady.
I don't care. You're seeing shots just then of Kamarowski.
Now that is the woman who put on the crying
jag in front of the judge. And I'm not through
(06:59):
with the judge. Yet either everybody keeps saying she got
the max. She did not get the max. This judge
ran all the sentences concurrently at the same time. They
should have been run consecutively, one after the next. But
that said, this reminds me of someone else after the
(07:21):
murder of a family member. All they can say is me,
me me, me, me, me, me, me me me. Listen,
I think you know her.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Just to understand, we're all going in so many different directions.
We just want to go in the right one.
Speaker 11 (07:34):
Well, I can't point you in that direction when I'm
literally at a standstill. I am just as removed from
the situation as somebody who has no clue what's going on.
At least even random people that we've never met have
more of an outlook on this than I do. Right now,
(07:54):
it's really sad. That's really really sad that I literally
have nothing right now.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Wow, you are seeing top mom Casey Anthony on a
jail phone call. Her parents constantly have to calm her
down because she's obsessed about me, me, me, me me.
There she's saying, I literally have nothing now. Your daughter
is dead and a trash bag and a swamp woman
(08:25):
and you're whining behind bars about your situation. Really, I
need to shrink and I need one right now. Let
me go out to doctor Jory crass and joining US
Forensic Psychologists faculty, Saint Leo University, author of Operation s OS.
There's got to be something stronger in your DSM manual
(08:45):
than narcissistic. There's gotten to be something stronger. I mean,
you see top mom. Two year old Killy is dead, murdered. Okay,
you see Kamarowski. The bride is dead. She flew the
the air one hundred yards thanks to Karowski, and she's saying,
(09:06):
why did this happen to me?
Speaker 9 (09:09):
What is that?
Speaker 12 (09:10):
You know, Narcosism doesn't just start overnight. You don't become
this type of person. We've heard the term enabled and
if you look at it, her life has been full
of this enablement and that keeps her from making choices
and decisions, and the ones she makes are bad and
like this where she's now regretting. I guess would be
(09:33):
the term. But she still hasn't connect that decision with
the outcome of it and the results of it. It
may take the twenty five year sentence to really reach
her in that depth of.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Elevel crime stories with Nancy Grace joining me now in
this to high profile lawyer Mark Pepper, Dave Mack, Kimberly Cockrell,
and doctor Jory crawlsen Is Tom Smith. You know him well,
(10:09):
Former NYPD detective co host gold Shields podcast, Tom Smith.
I've had about a snoopful with Jamie Komarowski. Forget about
the top. That's more bread than sack. Okay, I don't care.
But what I do care about is sir lying in court.
(10:29):
She actually lied, Tom, She said, I've never been in
trouble before. Well that's bs because she's had three priors.
They're listed as speedings. But Evan, it suggests there do
UIs and it's been sealed. This woman is a walking
crime let or. And she goes in front of the judge.
(10:50):
Was all of that and lied?
Speaker 13 (10:54):
Yep?
Speaker 9 (10:55):
And just look at all the pictures.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Every picture you just showed has something in her hand
at an event or something like that.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, you're right, you're right, Tom Smith. How could I
ignore evidence? And every photo she's around some booze. There
she is with a solo cup. I guarantee you that
ain't hot tea. You're right, Tom, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
And you know that goes to the premeditation of making
a bad decision. She's made them before. This is just
the first time something bad happened, so she always thought
she could get away with it. And that's why it's
so important, Nancy, and you know this. That's why it's
so important for investigators and police and detectives to show
up to the scene and do every single thing correctly,
(11:41):
so there's no technicalities of her getting away with anything.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Is it not bothering you? Mark? There she is in
kind of a I don't know, an ad or promo
for bud Beer. Is it not bothering you? Mark Pepper
that an every shot is alcohol related or she's drinking
and smiling. I mean the entitlement.
Speaker 10 (12:07):
What bothers me the most is that as a criminal
defense lawyer, when you see these pictures plastered all over Facebook,
trial is no longer an option. Even if you think
you have the ability to convince a jury of reasonable
doubt regarding the facts, Once these pictures come in and
it paints the picture of who this defendant was, your
(12:28):
options are pretty limited. She clearly and look, we all
went to college, most of us. We all had a
good time and maybe into our young twenties. But if
every single picture that's going to be shown to the
jury involves a solo cup, if not an actual alcoholic beverage,
and you're dressed the way you are, it paints a
picture to the jury without you even having the ability
(12:50):
to rehabilitate yourself on the stand. So that's what bothers
me the most of all of this is that it
takes one huge option for the defense team and puts
it completely out the window, leaving her no choice but
to plead guilty. Anytime you go into a case where
you only have one choice, it's not the best case.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, for this woman, I bring in in another strength.
Forensic psychologist doctor Sherry Schwartz listen.
Speaker 14 (13:16):
Hearing about that particular post with Bud light Year. What
this tells me is this is someone who has incorporated
as part of her identity the humor in having this
relationship with alcohol, a clearly unhealthy relationship, and as someone
who has previously been in legal trouble with a DUI,
(13:36):
she's savvy enough to say, I'm not going to blow
into a breathalyzer, which tells me that she had consciousness
of mind to know that she shouldn't be driving.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And in the last hours, the runt driver, Jamie Lee Komarowski,
who killed a bride on her wedding night, makes an
outrageous demand. Believe it or not, Just after the sentence,
Kamarowski insists that the judge reduce her sentence. That's right.
(14:06):
Jamie Lee Kamarowski, ordered to spend twenty five years behind bars,
now insists that the sentence was too stringent.
Speaker 15 (14:16):
They did the Sparkler exit where everybody lines up in
like Sparkler's and they go underneath. She's the happiest I've
ever seen her in her life. They got on the
golf cart.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
They left.
Speaker 15 (14:28):
Ten minutes later. We went to our airbnb, which was
before theirs, so they were still traveling. I started hearing
sirens and literally I looked at my daughter and I said,
something happened to Sam. I knew something that happened to Sam.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You are hearing Sam's mom, Lisa Miller, telling me about
the night of the crash. She's about to join us live,
but I wanted to hear what else she told me.
Speaker 15 (14:53):
I called Sam and apologized calling her on her wedding night,
but she called me back and let me know she
was okay, and then the family memory get the truck,
and so me and my daughter got in the truck
and she took us to the scene, which was maybe
a mile away, not even two blocks from where they
were going to stay. Me and my daughter got out
of the truck and just started running hand in hand
towards the scene and just screaming, Tam, Tam, tam. I
(15:19):
heard that was there and my son waiting at the
scene and trying to figure out what was going on.
And we were told by somebody I don't know who
that everybody had been taken to the hospital, and so
my daughter and I went to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Joining us now is a very special guest who I
consider a friend. This is Samantha's mother, Lisa Miller. Miss Miller,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 16 (15:41):
Sure, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Miss Miller. I've thought about you so many times since
we last spoke, and you have been through hell. Is
it any better after sentence?
Speaker 16 (16:02):
If it's supposed to be, it's not yet. I mean,
I'm glad that she got the max time, for sure,
because we have the rest of our lives to deal
with this tragedy. We were sitting to life so twenty
five years. She still got off pretty easy. People say
(16:24):
that justice for Samantha, and yes, the girl got the
most time, but that doesn't take.
Speaker 9 (16:33):
Away the pain.
Speaker 16 (16:34):
It doesn't take away the heart aching for your daughter,
the part of you as a mom that dies, that's
all still there.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You know, miss Miller. With every little injury, every little cut,
every little heartache that your child goes through. Sometimes I think, Lisa,
that the mother feels at ten times over. I still
relive hurts or disappointments that my twins had when they
(17:09):
were itty bitty. I remember them and how I've said
I would before them. Long after they've moved on, you know,
I remember that, And I've just just been thinking about
you so much. And what was it like in that courtroom?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
I couldn't wait to leave.
Speaker 9 (17:33):
Tensions were high.
Speaker 16 (17:34):
I think it's just a very heavy, dark atmosphere, and
everybody feels it. Everybody that's there feels it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
When you saw Jamie Lee Kumarowski in the courtroom, what
went through your mind?
Speaker 16 (17:53):
I understand that I'm supposed to and what happens to
a lot of people whose children or friends or parents
or get killed by drunk drivers that I'm supposed to
hate her for whatever reason. I think we had so
much other things thrown at us. I do not think
(18:14):
about this girl. I didn't want to do bad things
to this girl, you know. And maybe it's because what
I've done for a living for the past twenty years.
I'm a drug and alcohol counselor. And she made some
really bad choices. She didn't wake up that morning and
say I'm going to kill Sam. It wasn't a personal thing.
(18:36):
Did her choices result in the death of my daughter
that's killing me every single day? Yes, obviously I'm not
her biggest fan, and thank god that she's going to
spend a very large portion of her life having a
lot of time to think about what she did in
her poor decisions and the fact that to get any treatment.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
When you said you don't hate her, I know exactly
how you feel. The day I saw the man that
murdered my fiance in court, I was numb and to
this day I still don't hate him. I don't care
anything about him. It's right. Yeah, more pain and the
(19:22):
hurt is what I felt and feel over that. Mark
Pepper joining us high profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction.
Part of the rules of the road are that you
don't have a right to drive, it's a privilege. So
when you are pulled over, you are supposed to, if asked,
if directed, submit to a breathalyzer, and if you don't,
(19:46):
that in itself is a violation of the law.
Speaker 10 (19:50):
It is, and it suspends your driving privileges for six months.
We don't have actual breathalyzers on the scene. What she
was asked to do was to perform field sobriety tests,
which you are allowed to decline here. Then if proble
will cause exists, as it did here, you're taken to
a hospital to be checked out, you're taken to a jail,
(20:11):
and at that point you're administered the BA test. She's
within her right to decline it. It does come with consequences, though, Nancy,
as you pointed out, in our state, when you sign
up to be a licensed driver in South Carolina, you
acquiesce to give a blood excuse me, a breathalyzer analysis
test at any point in time. If you decline it,
(20:32):
such as she did here, you automatically lose your license
for it six months.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
It's a choice she made so.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
She to refuse to take the BAC. The breath analyzer.
She knew enough to know she was drunk when she
stood up and correct me if I'm wrong, Dave Mac.
When she got out of the car for police, she
immediately fell down drunk. They could smell herb You know,
(20:58):
I've Dave with so many duys and HIV habitual violators
that actually come to court drunk. And it's not their breaths,
their skin, they actually smell like alcohol. Their body stinks.
And she was so out of it she thought she
had been hit. But what you've got to hear who
(21:22):
she blames Listen, And.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
It was a golf car.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I know, honey, we know, honey.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
The freaking road and this couldn't happen to anyone, Like.
Speaker 13 (21:35):
Why Like why.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
Why me? I don't understand, like this could have happened
so many other people.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
As a matter of fact, she lied to police, she
lied in court, and in my mind, still got a
lenient sentence. She could have been looking at twenty five
plus fifteen thirty five forty plus ten fifty years behind bars.
She got twenty five, which I think is like you know,
going to kmart and getting a two for one special.
(22:10):
That said, she's blaming the victim. For being in a
golf cart Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm gonna go
(22:31):
straight back out to Lisa Miller, Samantha's mother, that night
from leaving Sam's beautiful wedding. I remember what you told
me that you heard sirens and you knew, you knew,
(22:53):
and you said something's happened to Sam.
Speaker 16 (22:55):
Yep, I knew it, And I mean I know this.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
I'ds weird, but even back.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Thirty five years ago.
Speaker 16 (23:04):
I guess when you know I became pregnant with her.
I was at the beach, you know, I was young
on the way home from the beach that I said
to my girlfriend, watched me be pregnant. I'm like Sam
and I have always been. It's weird, just really, really
really the connection. And I think a mom in general
(23:28):
is so connected to her kids. I think that I've
done some research and scientifically, when the child comes out
of you, there areselves that are left inside of you.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
I can tell you I hurt.
Speaker 16 (23:42):
But I'm missing too. It's more like I'm not me anymore.
A giganic part of me is it's gone with Sam,
and I feel like I'm half a person. I go
back and look at pictures even pictures of me, and
I'm like, where's that person, where's that smile, where's that positivity?
(24:05):
Which I still try, you know, I'm getting some back.
But I think that's just like mislow amputated my leg.
Speaker 13 (24:14):
You know.
Speaker 16 (24:15):
I think that's what it's like, is that you have
to learn to live your life moving forward without these parts.
And that's about the closest thing I could kind of
relate it to. It's just literally losing some parts of
your body. And what people do when they, you know,
(24:35):
they get something amputated, you know, they're never going to
be the same. They have to learn how to live
without those parts. And so that's what we're working on.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That's really interesting what you're saying, miss Miller. I've had
people say you had a total personality change after Keith
was murdered. I don't even remember that girl, that girl
they say I used to be. I don't even remember
what that was. But they all separated in time and space,
say you're not even the same person you used to be,
(25:05):
And I can explain. I cannot explain that. I've compared
it to people talk about closure. That's total bs. There's
no such thing. There's no such thing I've talked about,
how maybe it's like you break your arm and you
never get it set, but you go on to learn
to flip a pancake. It's never the same, but you
(25:26):
managed to, as you say, with an amputato leg, you
manage to find a way to walk. But it's never
the same.
Speaker 16 (25:35):
You're not the same.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
And in the last hours, Kamaraski's lawyers in court showing
quote unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for her actions and therefore,
because of her quote genuine expressions of remorse, her sentence
should be slashed.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So today tomorrow fire my love a Serfore.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
You can learn from our friends at ABC seven. That
is the groom who suffered bleeding to the brain and massive,
massive internal trauma MANI broken bones, Eric Cutchinson stating I
will love you today, tomorrow and every day until I
take my last breath on this earth. I was supposed
to have her before you killed her. And throughout this
(26:31):
the dy booze after a booze field day of bar hopping,
lies to police that she had one beer of one tequila,
falls down, drunk, stinks to high heaven. Here is the
dui driver, whining and complaining because her grandparents are taking
(26:52):
care of her cat.
Speaker 14 (26:54):
Okay, well, okay, here's her thing, here's.
Speaker 13 (27:00):
My cat.
Speaker 15 (27:01):
Hang on, you need a reality check real quick right now, girl,
that's not your cat right now, because you left that
guy in an unfortunate situation and they're taking care of
the cat.
Speaker 13 (27:10):
Now.
Speaker 12 (27:11):
So that's trillion, that's my cat.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
I'm not going to be any here forever.
Speaker 15 (27:15):
I'm kidding.
Speaker 6 (27:16):
I'm going to be like a couple of months and
then I'm going to be back cold.
Speaker 13 (27:19):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Martin Pepper, high profile lawyer in this jurisdiction. On another
jail call, she states, I will be living my quote
best life in less than two years out of here. Whipsie.
Speaker 13 (27:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (27:33):
No, She's going to be living a really, really well
deserved rough life in the South Kinna Department of Corrections
for at least the next twenty to twenty one years,
with credit for time serve given yesterday, which is exactly
where she should be.
Speaker 15 (27:47):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (27:48):
Don't forget, Nancy that this judge could have given her
a minimum of one year.
Speaker 10 (27:53):
That's what our statute allows, one to twenty five years,
twenty five years along with the fifteen and ten runking.
I know that you'll disagree, which I respect. But when
we talk about the sentencing rules of the road, rehabilitation,
deterrence removal, I think Judge Jefferson chose five years.
Speaker 9 (28:14):
That's what the all allows for.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
She's already had three. We think DUIs to rehabilitate. She
is no more rehabilitated than.
Speaker 13 (28:25):
The man in the moon? Are you?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I can't believe you actually said that rehabilitate.
Speaker 9 (28:30):
Get rehabilitated in two years.
Speaker 10 (28:35):
Well, allegedly first to you, I believe that that it
was dismissed, uh and a reckless driving tickets gone.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
But twenty five years, you're removing the.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Individual from I was dismissed.
Speaker 10 (28:47):
Well, the initial one that's been alleged to occurred, I
believe was a reckless driving.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Nonetheless, Nancy d was dismissed such to bring that time,
and then after that there were two mores and two
more and now Samantha is dead. You know the degree
of entitlement of this woman to Sam's mom, Lisa, what
about it?
Speaker 15 (29:13):
I think that what we have here is a young
lady that has been bailed out because her family has money,
and has not been held accountable for any of her
poor choices. And when you continue to bail somebody out,
they're never going to learn. And she has not suffered
any consequences, so she continues the same behavior. And unfortunately
(29:34):
it happens a lot and a lot of my patients.
They've been enabled and their parents take care of everything
and fix it and trying to protect them, but they're
not really protecting them because now my daughter's dead.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Now to Kimberly Cockrail joining us from Columbia, South Carolina.
Victim services manager at mad Mothers against driving. Kimberly. So
often I see people, including the dui driver themselves, act
like it was all just it's a misunderstanding. You know,
I had a couple of drinks. This really happened to me.
(30:06):
I didn't do anything wrong. And that's what we're seeing here.
And Lisa Sam's mother is saying that she has been
bailed out. We just heard Mark Pepper say that the
original dui charges we think were dismissed. There have been
three priors, three prior incidents, and now this. I don't
(30:29):
like it when dui crashes or referred to as accidents,
it's not an accident. Kimberly, can you explain why the.
Speaker 8 (30:36):
Word accident is something that grates on my nerves so
much when it comes to DUI crashes. I lost my
best friend twenty three years ago, almost And if I
hear the word accident one more time when it refers
to one of these, that was not an accident. An
accident as a child runs out into a street after
(30:56):
a ball and you're not drunk, you're not on your
phone phone, you're not looking down messing with the radio. Accident,
You hit this child and you do everything you can
to stop. That is an accident. What this woman did
that night was no accident. She was egregiously drunk. She
made a choice. That choice took Samantha Miller's life. Samantha
(31:20):
Miller had so many things to look forward to in
her life, and mind you, one of them was getting
back home to her cat, who will never see her again.
Listening to you her, listening to her talk about her
cat and how she's annoyed that her grandparents are taking
care of that.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Do you know that Lisa Miller would.
Speaker 8 (31:38):
Give anything, anything for her daughter to actually hold her
cat again. These are not accidents, Nancy. These are crashes.
These are collisions, and they are choices made by these drivers.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
And it was a golf car.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I know, honey, we know, honey.
Speaker 6 (32:00):
On the freaking road. This is just gonna happen to anyone,
Like why me, why why? I don't understand like this
could have have to be so many other people.
Speaker 13 (32:15):
Form there to go to alcohol rehab. Okay, right, okay,
that's part of it. Part right? How long is that?
Four to six weeks?
Speaker 6 (32:34):
All right, well listen, if it helps the case, then
I'll do it.
Speaker 17 (32:42):
Might help you a little too, sure, Well, yeah, you know,
so more information is coming out about what happened, So.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Your vac level.
Speaker 13 (33:01):
Alcohol level?
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Did I just see her roll her eyes? Feel so
bad for the father, Mark Pepper. The dad is sitting
there in his T shirt going, hey, honey, you know
you're going to have to go to alcohol rep rehab.
She's like, how long is that?
Speaker 7 (33:23):
He goes?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Four to six weeks? And she goes, did you see that?
Should I believe you are my lion eyes because I
just saw that?
Speaker 15 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (33:32):
No, I saw it, And Nancy is you're probably aware
of My firm successfully sued the Sheriff's office to get
those jail tapes released on to have a local media outlet,
and it was sick to my stomach when I was
listening to all fifteen hours of those jail tips tapes.
Maybe sick both personally and professionally. On one hand, you
clearly can see this father trying to get her to
(33:54):
understand the reality the gravity of the situation that she's in,
and she's rolling her eyes. On the other hand, as
the criminal offense attorney, and you look at it and
you say, how in the world can we try this case?
A jury is going to hate her, and now we're
stuck with one option. We've got to plead her guilty.
Why it took so long to get to this point,
I don't know, But nonetheless I hope it gives the
(34:15):
family some closure to this tragedy.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Okay, you know, just because you went through so much,
and I want to thank you for that.
Speaker 13 (34:22):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I mean, I know you're a veteran trial lawyer. I
know you're a high profile attorney in this jurisdiction. You
really went to bat so the truth could come out
in this case. I really appreciate it because I've dealt
with so many defendants, so many and they act completely
differently in front of a jury than they do behind
(34:46):
closed doors, Like she is just using her dad up.
If I could just have my dad back for five minutes,
And the way she's treating her family, her father, the
poor guy's just trying to keep his daughter out of jail.
He's doing anything. I guarantee you had a hand in
getting your eye of those last three incidents. It makes
(35:07):
me wonder when she says he says more is coming
out about what happens you go such as it makes
me wonder if there's more to it than I even know.
Speaker 10 (35:14):
There are multiple layers to that onion, all of which
at the core of it is a woman girl that
Jess has no grasp on the reality of the situation,
the consequences of her action, the eye rolls, the sure
I mean, as a parent, to look in your daughter's
(35:38):
eyes knowing that she has just killed someone, maybe at
this point, maybe even multiple people. You're doing everything you
can to get her to understand the gravity of the situation,
the consequence of her action, the money that's being spent
on experts and lawyers that these parents, grandparents are spending.
And yet she sits there and simply acts it's just
(36:00):
any other day.
Speaker 9 (36:02):
This was just a.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
Tragedy all the way around. In my heart obviously goes
out to the Miller family and the Hutchison family.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
To top it all off, we learn that the drunk
driver Homarowski is now insisting the sentence that she just
got me thrown out and that she get a lighter sentence.
Incredible and not in a good way. Joining me now
is doctor Kendall Crown's chief medical Examiner Terrant County. That's
(36:33):
Fort Worth Esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine
at TCU. Doctor Kendall crowns, I need you now because
all of our focus has been on the duy killer,
her sentence, what she did and didn't do in court,
what she did behind bars. I want to talk about
Samantha the bride, the bride who was ejected and thrown
(36:57):
one hundred yards in her wedding dress to her death.
What were her injuries? Doctor Kendall crowns.
Speaker 18 (37:05):
Her injuries would be very comparable to her husband's injuries.
With the multiple extremity fractures, the head injury, and the
rate of speed that the golf car was hit at,
she probably would have had whiplash injury, cervical spine suspurations.
Combined with that internal images of the brain, possible effectors
(37:26):
of the ribs and choos in flabrations of lungs, hearts,
and other internal.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Organ duntor crowns. I'm just trying to imagine what the
impact must have been because there were no skid marks.
I think she may have hit the brakes one time.
But this crash, I can't even make out what that is.
The car is just a jumble and the bride was
(37:52):
thrown one hundred yards plus. I mean, would she have
died upon impact.
Speaker 18 (37:58):
It's possible that she could have dined on impact because
the car is coming at such a high rate of
speed and striking a golf cart which has a very
little crumpled zone, very little protection for the occupants. And
the fact she threw one hundred yards means that the
decedent was shot out of the vehicle at a high
rate of speed and then, depending on how much she weighs,
(38:21):
is able to go one hundred yards. So the accident
self gave her initial velocity that made her basically into
a meat missile that flew through the air until she
came to rest one hundred yards later. Odds are she's
dead on impact, but you would really have to look
at the injuries. My theory is she's probably got massive
skull fractures, massive cervical spine fractures, probably killed her instantly
(38:42):
and then flung her body one hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Doctor Kendall Crown's. What about the groom Eric, because he
is apparently still undergoing rehab. What were his injuries?
Speaker 18 (38:56):
So he has fractures of his legs, he has of
his I believe his ribs. He also had skull fractures.
He had traumatic brain injury, which means basically had hemorrhage
in his brain or bleeding his brains from the course
of impact. And so all those injuries, especially the brain injuries,
he's probably has to relearn how to walk, probably relearn
(39:19):
how to talk, and any number of things that go
along with brain injuries. And he'll have pain from the
fractures and other issues from the brain injuries for the
rest of his.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Life, Doctor Crowns. We know that Samantha was thrown from
the wreck one hundred yards declared dead at the same
the groom Eric Hutchinson two broken legs, broken bones in
his face, and a brain injury. Yet Jamie Kumrowski is uninjured,
(39:54):
completely uninjured How does that happen?
Speaker 18 (39:57):
Doctor, Yeah, so that's always fascinating to me. Have seen
these dui type collisions throughout my career, and it's always
the person that's hit by the drunk driver. They gets
killed and the drunk driver, for whatever reason, has very
little to no injuries. It could be that she was
seat belted. It could be the fact that her car
was heavier than the golf cart. It took a lot
(40:19):
less impact damage from the golf cart, because you know,
when you hit a human being, you don't usually have
injuries to the car itself because the car is like
a tank. There's other theories that the drunk person is
more relaxed and then on impact, they just don't get
the injuries you see with people that are bracing for impact.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Doctor Crown's Sam's father had to identify her from her tattoo.
That was the only way he could identify her. What
does that tell you?
Speaker 18 (40:47):
She had so much facial and head trauma that her
actual head was not identifiable. So she could have had
massive skull fractures that cause tearing up her facial and
distorting her facial features. Her tag could have been so
pressed that you just couldn't make out her face.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
All of this because of a drunk driving and it
was by far not the first time for this woman.
Our prayers tonight with Samantha's groom Eric and her family.
Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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