Secret order freeing SC killer from prison early can be unsealed, Supreme Court says
A secret order that resulted in the nearly 16-year early prison release of convicted murderer Jeroid Price can be released and made open to the public, all five justices on the South Carolina Supreme Court decided Thursday.
Shortly after the court’s decision, Attorney General Alan Wilson asked that the high court issue a bench warrant for Price.
“He absolutely should not have been released from prison, and we need to get him back behind bars as quickly as possible,” Wilson said in a statement.
Calls had grown louder this week demanding the order be made public, rather than kept confidential behind a seal, particularly after the victim’s family said they were not properly notified of Price’s release and given an opportunity to speak against it.
Wilson’s office this week filed a formal request asking a state judge to consider releasing the order and all sealed documents, purportedly signed by South Carolina Judge Casey Manning, who retired from the bench in December. A hearing that was scheduled at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Richland County courthouse, expected to be before Judge Robert Hood, the 5th Circuit’s chief administrative judge, was canceled.
Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson told The State newspaper he had no problem with releasing the order.
Gipson request, with the consent signature of Price’s attorney state Rep. Todd Rutherford was included in the court’s order.
“I don’t object to it (unsealing the order and making it public),” Gipson said. “We have asked (the S.C. Supreme Court) that the order be unsealed.”
Price, who was serving a 35-year sentence for murder in the 2002 death of Carl Smalls, was released nearly 16 years early in mid-March under Manning’s order. Smalls, originally a defensive lineman on the University of South Carolina football team, had recently transferred to the University of North Carolina when he was shot and killed during a fraternity party at the VooDoo Club in Columbia.
A gang expert at Price’s 2003 trial testified about the history of the Bloods and the Crips, gang activities in Columbia and gang clothing and hand signals. The expert said Price was a member of the Bloods and was a supreme, or officer, within the gang.
The S.C. Supreme Court unanimously upheld Price’s conviction and sentence in 2006.
The secret order allowing Price’s release was first revealed April 17 by 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, who prosecuted Price in 2003 when Pascoe was an assistant solicitor for the 5th Circuit.
After first declining to comment, Gipson released a statement Wednesday, detailing conversations about Price back in 2022.
Per state law, Gipson said the state can ask a circuit court judge to consider a sentence reduction for an inmate who has provided “substantial assistance” to law enforcement. It’s currently unknown what “substantial assistance” Price may have provided.
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.
There are measures in both state and federal courts that allow inmates to be released early, or get a reduced sentence, if they provide substantial assistance to law enforcement, several Columbia-area lawyers have told The State.
But critics of Price’s early release say his case it is questionable because of several factors, including the large number of years cut from Price’s sentence, the violent murder itself, the public outrage from law enforcement and the lack of notification to the victim’s family.
Before the Supreme Court’s order, Rutherford told The State Thursday that the information given by his client was substantial enough to warrant the order be sealed from the public.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This story was originally published April 20, 2023 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Secret order freeing SC killer from prison early can be unsealed, Supreme Court says."
