I don't know JSON::SL, but it seems that you have to configure it better to call your code at different times than it currently does.

I don't know what kind of JSON path spec it implements, but have you tried just using / instead of /^?

If you post a short, self-contained program that still reproduces the error, then we can give help more to the point than just guess about your data, your code and the behaviour of JSON::SL. See also SSCCE.