COLUMBIA, S.C. — A secret order that resulted in the early release of convicted South Carolina murderer Jeroid Price was unsealed Thursday by the state Supreme Court, detailing publicly for the first time what information Price shared to cut nearly 16 years off his prison sentence.
The order contained three examples that served as justification for now-retired Judge Casey Manning to sign the order that reduced Price’s 35-year prison sentence even though Price had not served the mandatory minimum 30 years for murder.
The testaments included in the order say that Price, who was housed at the S.C. Department of Corrections in Columbia and then transferred to New Mexico, saved corrections officers from injury or death and notified prison officials when a high-profile inmate escaped.
The order’s details are the latest in a head-spinning series of controversial developments that started Monday, when 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe disclosed to media that Price had been released from prison on March 15 despite only serving 19 years of his 35-year sentence.
Price was convicted in 2003 in Richland County of the 2002 murder of Carl Smalls, who played football at the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina, at a Columbia-area nightclub where a fraternity and sorority were sponsoring a party. Smalls was on the ground when Price shot him, according to evidence shared at the trial.
Smalls’ family told The State they were never given proper notice that Price would be released from prison early, only on the day of when they received a courtesy call and then a recorded voicemail.
Attorney General Alan Wilson has demanded Price be put back behind bars. On Thursday, he requested the S.C. Supreme Court issue a bench warrant for Price’s arrest, a decision that could come down Friday.
“He absolutely should not have been released from prison, and we need to get him back behind bars as quickly as possible,” Wilson’s request said.
Price’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Price did obtain a South Carolina driver’s license on April 7 and gave an address in Florence, sources with knowledge said.
His release has further raised questions about the authority of state judges to secretly shorten violent convicts’ prison sentences and the role of the state’s solicitors, or elected prosecutors, in the process.
On Monday, Pascoe, who prosecuted Price when he was a Richland County prosecutor, disclosed that not only had Price been released from prison early, but that his lawyer, state Rep. Todd Rutherford, had initiated the release by persuading 5th Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson to seek an order from Manning to let Price go free.
The reason, Pascoe said, was to let Price out of prison early because of his supposed “substantial assistance” to law enforcement.
The three purported examples of Price’s good deeds include a January 2017 example when Price saved a guard’s life after the order says he jumped into a brawl where a half-dozen inmates were standing over a fallen corrections officer, punching and kicking while another inmate was getting ready to stab him with a homemade prison knife.
That example was shared by Larry Benjamin, a former inmate and convicted murderer who has since died. Benjamin said he observed the incident.
A second example in the order details an account by a former corrections officer, Asia Love, who worked at Lieber Correctional Institution where Price was incarcerated. Love wrote that in March 2010 a violent inmate was about to use a broom to strike a corrections officer, Sally Fowler.
Fowler, Love said, was on the ground when Price “came out of nowhere,” tackled the assailant and led him away. Love said she did not observe the incident but heard about it from Fowler, who said Price had saved her life.
The last example of Price’s “substantial information” is that in July 2017 Price informed prison officials that Jimmy Lee Causey, a violent bank robber and kidnapper, had escaped from a maximum security prison in Dorchester County and was on the run in Texas.
Prison officials didn’t know Causey had escaped, and the tip enabled police to quickly arrest him in Texas, where he was holed up in a motel with guns, cellphones and $47,000 in cash.
Causey was regarded as especially dangerous because in 2002 he had kidnapped prominent Columbia criminal defense attorney Jack Swerling, his wife and daughter and was serving a life sentence for the offense.
State corrections spokesperson Chrysti Shain confirmed Thursday that Price had alerted someone outside the prison system to Causey’s escape. That person then told prison officials, and Price’s tip helped lead law enforcement to Causey’s quick apprehension, Shain said.
Those accounts, however, did not impress Pascoe, who emphasized that Manning’s order had been kept secret until he and others began to complain.
“The only reason this was sealed was so the world would never find out Price was released,” Pascoe said.
Wilson, the state’s chief elected prosecutor, and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, whose office investigated Price in 2003, quickly joined Pascoe this week in condemning the early release, saying Price should never have been let out.
Wilson’s office also asked the state Supreme Court to unseal the order releasing Price. The court complied.
Rutherford, a Democrat who represents a portion of Richland County in the S.C. House, on Thursday defended Price and said he was worthy of an early release. He also criticized Wilson, Pascoe and Lott by name for “playing politics.”
With the release of the affidavits, people can at least see that he helped make South Carolina safer, Rutherford said. Rutherford said there is a letter from the state Department of Corrections supporting the accounts in the once-sealed judge’s order. Rutherford said he did not have a copy available to share but said Gipson has a copy of that letter.
Gipson could not be reached for comment. The state Department of Corrections had no immediate comment about the letter.
The unsealed order has now put Price’s life in danger, Rutherford said, since convicts and criminals look down on those who assist law enforcement.
“Jeroid Price has a target on his back because of politicians trying to self-aggrandize at his expense,” Rutherford said. “That’s why this order was sealed, because his life was in jeopardy and will be now because a bunch of politicians can run around and act like they’ve done something good.”
Early releases from prison, or reductions in projected prison time, do occur in federal court for criminals who help law enforcement, Rutherford said. South Carolina has had similar practices in place in federal court since 2011, Rutherford said.
Rutherford further defended the release and said everything about the release was legal and followed established procedures, Rutherford said.
In a statement this week, Gipson said per state law the state can ask a circuit court judge to consider a sentence reduction for an inmate who has provided “substantial assistance” to law enforcement.
In December 2022, Gipson said, his office participated in talks with Rutherford and the court about Price, and, after evaluating Price’s “assistance,” Gipson’s office decided it would be appropriate to file a motion asking for a formal hearing to decide how much, if any, of Price’s sentence should be reduced.
But an official motion to reduce was never filed by the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office because the judge’s order was issued before it could be filed, Gipson said. There was no formal hearing where Smalls’ family could voice their position on the order.
“For those reasons, I am requesting that this matter be reopened by the Court in order to ensure that all statutory rights and procedures are followed correctly. An open hearing will ensure that all parties have their statutorily guaranteed right to be heard and that all information related to this matter can be placed on the record before the Court,” Gipson said in his statement.
Pascoe on Thursday took issue with Rutherford’s characterization of events surrounding Manning’s issuance of the sealed order.
“This was, in my opinion, an unlawful release,” said Pascoe.
One affidavit is from a convicted murderer and another concerns a 13-year-old incident described by a former corrections employee who was not a firsthand witness to the event, Pascoe said. Under the law, Pascoe said a hearing should have been held where allegations in the affidavits could be challenged. But there was no hearing, he said.
“This is an absolute travesty of justice, and I’m so pleased that the Supreme Court intervened and unsealed this file,” Pascoe said.
