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Convicted killer Jeroid J. Price – whose illegitimate, illegal, and unconstitutional release from the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) last month sparked a public and political uproar – is residing in the Midlands region of the Palmetto State as prosecutors seek to put him back behind bars.
State and local law enforcement sources confirmed Price has been residing in Richland County following his release from a New Mexico prison on March 15, 2023. Price was released by retiring S.C. circuit court judge Casey Manning despite having fifteen years remaining on his mandatory murder sentence.
The gang leader’s comings and goings in the Midlands are being “closely monitored,” a source familiar with his whereabouts confirmed to this news outlet. It is not immediately clear whether this monitoring began before or after our news outlet first reported on Price’s extra-legal release from state custody last Monday (April 17, 2023).
One thing is clear: Scrutiny of his movements is intensifying ahead of a scheduled hearing before the S.C. supreme court this week regarding the legality of the order that sprung him from the pen.
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To recap: Manning ordered Price to be released even though there was no pending motion to do so from the solicitor with jurisdiction over his case. Not only that, Manning’s order – which was originally sealed from public view – expressly violated South Carolina’s mandatory minimums on murder convictions, as contained in § 16-3-20 (A) of the state’s code of laws.
Most egregiously, Price’s release violated the victims’ bill of rights provision of the S.C. Constitution (Article I, Section 24) which, among other provisions, allows victims the right to “be informed of any proceeding when any post-conviction action is being considered, and be present at any post-conviction hearing involving a post-conviction release decision.”
Last Wednesday, I called for a criminal investigation into Manning – who has a history of aiding and abetting judicial corruption in South Carolina. That call was echoed this week by the family members of University of North Carolina football player Carl Smalls, who was murdered by Price in a gang-related shooting at Club Voodoo in Columbia, S.C. during the early morning hours of December 7, 2002.
A year later, a Richland County jury took just thirty minutes to find Price guilty of Smalls’ murder. Former S.C. circuit court judge Reggie Lloyd sentenced him to thirty-five years behind bars – “day for day” – meaning he was ineligible to be released prior to 2038.
Manning released Price for purportedly providing information related to Jimmy Causey – an inmate who escaped from the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia in 2005 and then escaped again from Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville in 2017. Price also purportedly tackled an inmate who attempted to attack a correctional officer during a 2010 incident. That officer later posed as the gang leader’s sister in an attempt to visit him behind bars.
Sources familiar with both of those cases have raised doubts as to legitimacy of Price’s claims of assistance.
At the time of his release, Price was housed in New Mexico as part of an “interstate cooperation compact.” According to our sources, he was moved across the country on at least one occasion after allegedly calling in “hits” on not one but two SCDC wardens.
Price is a leader of the Bloods gang. In fact, he has been described as the “Godfather of the G Shine Bloods” within SCDC. At the time of the Club Voodoo shooting, Price was referred to as a “superior” in the Bloods gang – leading a chapter referred to as the “GKB,” or “Gangster Killer Bloods.” Price’s son – 23-year-old Jewayne M. Price – is also a gang leader. He was charged last year in connection with a gang-related shooting at Columbiana Mall in northwest Columbia, S.C. and is currently incarcerated at the Alvin S. Glenn detention center in Richland County, S.C.
Last week, S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson petitioned the state supreme court for a “writ of prohibition” (.pdf) asking the court to “arrest Jeroid J. Price (and) return him to the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections immediately.”
"We are certain Judge Manning’s order is void,” Wilson said in a statement accompanying the writ.
The court is scheduled to hear arguments on the writ of prohibition this Wednesday (April 26, 2023) at 12:00 p.m. EST. Hopefully, Price will be back in custody shortly thereafter. More importantly, hopefully a statewide grand jury has already been convened to investigate the circumstances surrounding Price’s release.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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