NORTH CHARLESTON – A man accused of murder cannot be tried again for a 2020 death by baseball bat after a former Charleston-area circuit judge made an “absurdly wrong and improper decision,” during a 2023 murder trial, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled.

Former 9th Circuit Judge Bentley Price “erroneously” questioned a juror and “improvidently granted a mistrial,” after a juror changed her mind and told the court she did not think that John Joseph Erb, 53, was guilty of murder in Donald Blake’s March 2020 death.

Price should have allowed the jury to continue to deliberate instead of questioning her about her decision and immediately declaring a mistrial without input from the prosecution or the defense, the court wrote in its Sept. 3 decision that Erb cannot be tried again.

Erb has remained

See Full Page