Following the South Carolina Supreme Court’s cancellation of an undisclosed bargain that reduced his 35-year murder sentence by 16 years, a guy had been on the run for 11 weeks until being apprehended by police on Wednesday.
Man Under Murder Sentence Caught after 11 Weeks on the Run
According to the news reported by AP News, following a tip to South Carolina detectives, Jeroid Price was apprehended peacefully at an apartment in New York City, according to a statement from the State Law Enforcement Division. No other information was provided.
Price’s attorney, Democratic state Rep. Todd Rutherford, and the prosecutor, Byron Gipson, decided to petition a judge to reduce Price’s sentence since he alerted authorities to an escapee serving a life sentence before the inmate was overlooked and saved two guards from terrible attacks. In South Carolina, a murder sentence can only be commuted in this manner.
The state Supreme Court, however, decided 3-2 in April to rescind the decision since no public hearing on the contract was held. Price was told to go back to jail right afterward, but instead, according to investigators, he evaded capture for 11 weeks.
At a news conference on Wednesday, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson stated, “He was aware the Supreme Court had made its ruling.” The 2010 law allowing jail terms to be lowered when offenders offer information that safeguards the safety of prison personnel and others were brought to light by Price’s release. When ordering Price back to prison on a 3-2 decision on April 26, the state Supreme Court pledged to clarify the law’s principles and processes, but the judges have not yet made their decision public.
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Murder Sentence Bargain
The bargain was kept a secret, including from the parents of the man Price killed and the deputies who looked into the shooting death of Carl Smalls Jr. at a Columbia nightclub in 2002, according to the justices. Sheriff Leon Lott of Richland County claimed that when he phoned Smalls’ parents to inform them that their son’s killer was once again in police custody, they yelled with pleasure.
According to a statement from Lott, “The Smalls family has gone through enough suffering and they don’t want any more victims to go through what they have.” “It is sad that so much effort was expended on trying to find Price. Our system of criminal justice is ineffective.
Because other inmates would have attempted to assault Price if they had known he had reported an escape and was assisting guards, the decision to release Price early had to be made behind closed doors, according to Price’s defense attorney Rutherford.
Rutherford, who told reporters he lost contact with his client before the court decision sending him back to prison, claimed Price is now in danger because he must return to a prison system that cannot guarantee his safety as priority.
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