SLED urges Jeroid Price to surrender after Supreme Court ruling

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – South Carolina’s top law enforcement agency is calling on Jeroid Price to immediately surrender to law enforcement following a Wednesday afternoon ruling from the state Supreme Court.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) said it has an active order from the South Carolina Supreme Court to take Price back into custody after he was released 16 years early from prison in what the Attorney General’s office called a secret and illegal order.

“SLED is working with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), as well as local, state, and federal law enforcement partners,” to find and take Price into custody.

They ask anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to call 803-737-9000.

Price was found guilty in 2003 and sentenced to 35 years in prison by Judge Reginald Lloyd for killing Lowcountry native Carl Smalls during a shooting at a Columbia nightclub a year prior.

He was released in mid-March after an order was signed by Circuit Court Judge Casey Manning in December 2022.

In a 3-2 ruling Wednesday, the court said Price must serve the remainder of his prison sentence. The order came down hours after justices listened to arguments surrounding his early release.