Jeroid Price, the South Carolina murderer at the center of a controversy surrounding Fifth Circuit Judge Casey Manning is in custody today after he was arrested in New York on July 12, 2023 by officers with the FBI and the NYPD. Authorities in South Carolina learned he was in New York following a tip, according to a press release from SCDC.
Jeroid John Price was convicted for the 2002 murder of Carl Smalls Jr at a Columbia nightclub and sentenced to 35 years in prison. In April 2023, word got out that Price was released from prison in March, just 19 years into his sentence. The release came after Manning signed a sentence reduction order on Dec. 28, 2022, his last day on the bench before retiring.
In April, the South Carolina Supreme Court voided that order and issued a warrant for Price’s arrest. He has been on the lam since and a $30,000 reward was offered for information about his whereabouts.
South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division Chief, Mark Keel, called the arrest a positive example of community and police collaboration.
“The arrest of Jeriod Price demonstrates the strength of law enforcement partnerships nationwide. This is yet another example that when law enforcement and the community work together, fugitives cannot and will not escape justice. I continue to encourage the public to come forward with tips in cases like this one to bring justice to victims of violent crime in South Carolina,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
When Price is returned to South Carolina, he will be processed into the South Carolina Department of Corrections Custody at Kirkland Correctional Institution before receiving his permanent housing assignment.
Price’s attorney lawyer-legislator Todd Rutherford made the following statement via text message regarding the arrest of Jeroid Price:
"It is good to know Jeroid Price is safe from those outside who seek to do him harm. Now he has to worry about those in government who continue to heap harm on him.
While serving in prison, he helped the people of South Carolina -- and his reward has been to have his life endangered by people seeking political gain."
We have also reached out to the NYPD, the FBI, and SLED for further comment.
Contact Beth Braden
Beth Braden
Beth Braden is an award-winning investigative journalist who cut her reporting teeth in the hills and hollows of East Tennessee. She joined the LUNASHARK® Media team in 2023 as a researcher and journalist who handles FOIA requests, wading through and analyzing public records, and connecting with sources. She also provides a monthly update for premium members called Soundbites, which is a monthly review of everything happening at LUNASHARK®, and she occasionally writes and records for True Sunlight. Beth has her own solo podcast called Time of Death, which explores the 1992 homicide of Tommy Griffin and Connie Branam in East Tennessee.
Prior to joining the team, Beth’s newspaper work had taken her into deep-dive stories about faith-based serpent handling and Appalachian coal mining, as well as data journalism work to analyze euthanasia drug irregularities at an animal shelter, uncover the most dangerous intersections on her beat, and see whether or not the local judge’s rulings passed muster when cases were appealed to the state appellate court. And of course, she’s been to her fair share of court hearings, city council meetings, and board of education work sessions.
In addition to her newspaper experience, her byline appears on HGTV.com, nytimes.com, and other internationally known websites.
In her spare time, she enjoys quilting, rock climbing, strange museums, and good cups of coffee.
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