COLUMBIA, S.C. — A total of 27 South Carolina inmates have had their sentences reduced since the beginning of last year, according to records compiled by the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The records were released Thursday to News19 by the South Carolina governor's office, which had requested the documents.
This report comes following the early release of Jeroid Price, a South Carolina convicted murderer who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing Carl Smalls Jr. in 2002. However, in December of 2022, Judge Casey Manning, now retired, signed an order granting Price's release after 19 years in prison. Price was formally released in March of this year.
The release order was sealed, but the decision became known publicly a few weeks after Price's release. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson objected, saying that the decision contradicted sentencing law for murder convictions, which states inmates found guilty of those crimes must serve 30 years. He also said there was no evidence of a public hearing that would have allowed the victim's family to challenge the release.
But Price's attorney, Todd Rutherford, said that his client had warned of a prison escape and had even saved the lives two prison guards while in state custody. He argued state law allows for sentence reductions for inmates who provide that kind of assistance.
Ultimately, the issue was brought before the South Carolina Supreme Court, who sided with Wilson, and ordered Price back to prison to finish his sentence. Price, however, remains at large, and officers have offered a $30,000 reward for his capture.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who also slammed the decision to release Price, wrote to SC Corrections Director Bryant Stirling requesting that his agency find out if there were any similar sentence reductions from January of 2022 until April of 2023.
In their response, corrections submitted documents of other early sentence reductions that had been given to them by judges and prosecutors. However, only three involved murder charges, including Price. The rest were for a range of offenses, including kidnapping, DUI, assault, and more.
Stirling, in a letter back to McMaster, said the report only covers information known to the SC Department of Corrections. He added that some orders were included out of an abundance of caution because his agency didn't have all relevant information. He also couldn't confirm if victims were notified.
An analysis of the documents show a range of range of reasons for the reductions. in some cases, the judge granted a reduction because of help to prosecutors on other criminal trials. In others, there was a request to reconsider a sentence, and the judge granted a lower penalty. In one instance, an inmate's term was changed so he could enter a mental health facility.
For the other murder cases, one involved a man in Beaufort County who instead of life had his sentenced change to 50 years in prison. Another was a case out of Anderson County, where a man had been sentenced as a 17-year-old old, and after 25 years behind bars, prosecutors felt he'd been sufficiently punished. They also argued that the case likely wouldn't have been prosecuted as a murder if it took place now.
As Stirling noted, some of the particulars of each case weren't clear, based on the limited information presented on the forms. There's also no indication in the files that the law wasn't followed, or that there was any impropriety in the releases.
However, the governor feels changes need to be made.
“This report highlights the need for tougher criminal penalties and confirms the General Assembly needs to act to close the revolving door on violent offenders and crack down on career criminals and illegal guns," said Brandon Charochak, a spokesperson for McMaster, in response to the report.
The South Carolina Judicial Branch issued a news release Thursday that South Carolina law allows for sentence reductions, and specifically reductions in cases where inmates provide substantial assistance to the state. They add that a request for a reduction is not an anomaly.
"The sentence reduction in the Price case offended the sensibilities of some but it must be remembered that sentence reductions are by request of the state," the Judicial Branch wrote in the news release. "Judges don't make the law, their job is to apply it."