A father’s emotional testimony before Congress has reignited national debate over violent repeat offenders and what critics say is a justice system that too often releases dangerous criminals back onto the streets.
Stephen Federico, whose 22-year-old daughter, Logan, was murdered in her sleep earlier this year, appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance on Monday.
His remarks came during a hearing focused on the issue of recidivism and lenient sentencing laws that allow offenders with long rap sheets to remain free.
Logan Federico was shot and killed in May while staying overnight at a friend’s home in Columbia, South Carolina.
Police say the suspect, 30-year-old Alexander Devonte Dickey, broke into the home and fatally shot her before allegedly going on a shopping spree using her stolen credit and debit cards.
Court documents show Dickey had a long criminal record prior to the killing.
Reports indicate he had been arrested 39 times and charged with 25 felonies over more than a decade.
Despite that record, he had served fewer than 600 days in jail.
“He should have been in jail for over 140 years for all of the crimes he committed,” Federico told Fox News Digital.
“He was committing 2.65 crimes a year since he was 15 years old. But nobody could figure out that he couldn’t be rehabilitated?”
Federico said his daughter’s death could have been prevented if the justice system had taken Dickey’s history more seriously.
“There are more people fighting for the rights of a career criminal than fighting for the right for my daughter to be safe,” he told lawmakers.
The congressional hearing, held in Washington, D.C., followed another highly publicized case involving Ukrainian commuter Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed aboard a train in Charlotte.
Her killer had also been released multiple times despite previous charges, drawing national attention to leniency in the criminal justice system.
During the hearing, Federico gave an emotional description of his daughter’s final moments.
“Think about your child coming home from a night out with their friends, lying down going to sleep, feeling somebody come into their room and wake them,” he said.
“Drag them out of bed, naked, forced on her knees with her hands over her head, begging for her life.”
The hearing grew tense when Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) mistakenly referred to a photo of Logan as the Ukrainian victim, Zarutska.
“This is my daughter … Logan Federico,” Federico said sharply. “How dare you not know her!”
Following the exchange, Federico told Fox that his testimony did not go as he had planned.
“Honestly, it went a little different direction than I thought it was going,” he said.
“When Ms. Ross kind of really set off a fire in me … the whole complexity of my speech went totally ad lib, to nothing but the feeling of what I had in my heart and kind of the fury I had.”
He said he felt dismissed and disrespected when the congresswoman confused his daughter’s photo.
“I really felt how unimportant both Logan and Iryna were to her,” Federico said.
“Not only did she not know who Logan was, but she didn’t do her homework, and she didn’t even know what Iryna looked like.”
Now, Federico says he is channeling his anger into action.
He is calling for the creation of a federal “Logan’s Law,” which he says would mandate communication between counties, require prosecutors to consider an offender’s full criminal history, and close loopholes that allow dangerous individuals to slip through the cracks.
“I’m hoping for a federal Logan’s Law or Logan’s Act,” he said.
“If you start with it federally, it goes down to the state. Counties don’t talk. You can’t go in and arrest somebody and see that he’s got 40 crimes in two states. They only look at the crime he committed at that time.”
Federico has already gained support from Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC), who pledged to back the proposal, and several other members of Congress who expressed interest in pursuing reforms.
Meanwhile, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter to Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson urging him to pursue the death penalty against Dickey.
Wilson said the case showed “clear statutory aggravating factors,” including that the killing occurred during a burglary, and cited Dickey’s criminal record.
Wilson also assigned Melody Brown, a senior attorney from the Attorney General’s Capital & Collateral Litigation Section, to review the case.
He gave Gipson until Oct. 10 to declare whether he would seek the death penalty.
Wilson warned that if Gipson declined, his office was prepared to take over.
Gipson pushed back in a letter dated Oct. 1, calling the deadline “reckless, irresponsible and unethical.”
He wrote that four months was not enough time to conduct the “due diligence necessary” to determine whether the death penalty was appropriate.
The disagreement drew a response from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who criticized Wilson’s actions, arguing that his involvement risked politicizing the case.
“The state’s top law enforcement officer and chief prosecutor cannot politicize a case,” Mace said. “Logan and her family deserve justice.”
Mace also wrote to the Department of Justice, requesting that federal prosecutors take over the case to ensure accountability.
