A Secretive Early Release From Prison, Then a Frantic Manhunt
Jeriod Price had served more than half of a 35-year prison sentence for murdering another man at a nightclub in 2002. Then, last month, he became a fugitive. The authorities in South Carolina warned the public that he was dangerous and “could be anywhere in the world,” pleading for information that could aid their sudden, frantic search.
“My prayer, my plea, to someone out there,” Leon Lott, the sheriff in Richland County, S.C., said in early April, standing next to an oversize $5,000 reward check: “Help us.”
Mr. Price had not escaped. A prominent judge, just a day before his own retirement, had signed and then sealed an order clearing the way for Mr. Price’s release from prison in March, even though he still had some 16 years remaining on his sentence.
A month later, the South Carolina Supreme Court overruled the judge’s order. Mr. Price failed to surrender, setting off a manhunt with officers from law enforcement agencies combing the state and beyond.
Source: The New York Times
