Jamie Lee Komoroski released on $150K bond. DUI driver who killed bride on her wedding night to remain under house arrest as she now awaits trial where she faces 25 years jail if convicted of charges against her. White privilege and pretty privilege explored.
‘All of a sudden something hit me. I did nothing wrong….’
A DUI drunk driver who killed a bride on her wedding night was pictured leaving a South Carolina jail arm in arm with her father on Friday after posting a $150,000 surety bond set by Judge Michael Nettles.
According to jail records, Jamie Lee Komoroski was released at 3:16 p.m. on Mar. 1 with orders for a GPS and Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM) device. A SCRAM bracelet can detect alcohol in a person’s system through sweat.
BREAKING: Escorted by her father, Jamie Komoroski left the Charleston county jail a few moments ago. @Live5News https://t.co/6WbFcHjsjF pic.twitter.com/ixMK7UtfUg
— Blair Sabol-Live 5 News (@BlairSabolTV) March 1, 2024
‘Flight risk’
As part of her release, Jamie Komoroski, 26, must surrender her passport, live in Charleston County and not drive. She will remain under ‘house arrest,’ until her trial date. A trial date had yet to be set.
Komoroski will only be able to leave home for medical emergencies the Post and Courier reported.
Circuit Judge Michael Nettles had previously ruled that if Komoroski hadn’t been brought to trial by March then she could be released on a bond of $150,000. The 26 year was previously denied bond after been deemed a ‘flight risk’.
Komoroski had been in custody since April after mowing down Samantha Hutchinson, a 34-year-old bride leaving her wedding, on Folly Beach.
Komoroski, 26, kept her hood up as she left the Charleston County Jail with her father Charles on Thursday, shielding her face from the press.
Komoroski was allegedly three times over the legal drink driving limit when she got behind the wheel of the Toyota Camry on April 28.
Komoroski was driving at 65mph in a 25mph zone, along a poorly-lit residential street around 10pm on East Ashley Avenue when she collided into the back of the golf cart carrying Sam and her new husband Aric. The couple who had just married hours earlier had just left their wedding reception party.
The newly wed’s golf-cart was thrown 100 yards and flipped over several times, resulting in Sam’s death. Aric was left with serious injuries and had two reconstruction surgeries, as well as suffering numerous broken bones and a brain injury.
Faces up to 25 years jail if convicted
Komoroski was indicted by a grand jury in September 2023 on one count of felony DUI resulting in death, two counts of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury and one count of reckless homicide.
Her lawyer filed an application for bail on August 2 after several months in custody, but she remained behind bars in Al Cannon Detention Center after a judge denied her bond after deeming her a flight risk.
The felony DUI charge carries a maximum 15-year penalty and she faces up to 10 years on the reckless homicide charge. If convicted of the charges made against her when she goes to trial, Komoroski is facing up to 25 years behind bars.
At the time of the DUI crash, Komoroski’s blood alcohol content was 0.261 – more than three times the limit – and she was uncooperative with authorities when she was arrested.
Explained the 26 year old as responding officers descended on the scene, ‘All of a sudden something hit me. I did nothing wrong.’
White privilege and pretty privilege
Following her arrest, Komoroski called her parents from prison, two days after the crash crying: ‘Oh my God. I just can’t believe this happened to me. … Why me? … I’m going to be here for years and years and years and years.’
‘I can’t believe this is my life… my whole life is going to be over,’ she added.
In more recent phone calls she said that she was ‘really happy’ because Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano is ‘trying to help [her] out.’
She has been accused of receiving special treatment in the jail, having in-person visits from her family – which is not a privilege normally extended to inmates.
But there’s more…
Komoroski is now in the midst of planning her own wedding while staring down the prospect of 25 years behind bars.
‘I want you to be at my wedding,’ Komoroski told her father, Charles, in audio recordings released by The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) to the nypost.
‘I want you to walk me down the aisle. I want you to be with me. I want to go on walks with you.’
It is understood that Komoroski is still dating her boyfriend Evan Tatro with the two continuing their relationship over the phone.
In a call with him she praised him for collecting her mom from the airport.
‘It means a lot to me,’ she told him during one call.
Komoroski’s release on Friday comes as her attorneys previously said that their client had never been in trouble with the law before.
It remained unclear when South Carolina authorities would announce an upcoming trial date for Komoroski who had been accused of living off the graces of ‘white privilege‘ and ‘pretty privilege.’ Until now.
