Supreme Court orders released S.C. killer to serve remaining prison time

COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - On Wednesday the South Carolina Supreme Court filed an order overturning the sentence reduction for convicted killer Jeroid Price.

Price, who was found guilty of the murder of Carl “Dash” Smalls Jr. in 2002, was released from prison in March after a circuit court order reduced his 35-year sentence to 19 years.

Price was later located in New York and taken back into custody while officials investigated the decision. Wednesday’s ruling orders Price to serve out the remainder of his original 35-year sentence.

According to the Supreme Court order, Rep. Todd Rutherford, Price’s attorney, contacted Solicitor Byron Gipson in February 2022 about reducing Price’s sentence. After exchanging drafts of the order, Rutherford and Gipson reportedly met privately with now-retired Circuit Court Judge Casey Manning in December 2022 and the order was signed and sealed without Smalls’ family being notified.

The Supreme Court’s opinion said the meeting was not recorded or transcribed and was not noted in the Richland County case management system public index. The majority of the state’s Supreme Court justices determined the circuit court did not have the authority to reduce Price’s sentence because the solicitor never filed a written motion for the reduction. They also ruled that the circuit court did not have the authority to seal the proceedings.

Additionally, failure to notify Smalls’ family violated the Victims’ Bill of Rights.

Chief Justice Donald W. Beatty and Justice George C. James both dissented. A response from the pair accuses the state of creating the situation that then had to be overturned.

Attorney General Alan Wilson, who criticized Price’s release, issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court opinion:

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