A grieving North Carolina father delivered an emotional plea to Congress on Monday, urging lawmakers to impose tougher sentencing laws after his daughter was killed by a man with a long criminal record who, he says, should have never been free.
Stephen Federico, whose 22-year-old daughter Logan was shot and killed in Columbia, South Carolina earlier this year, testified during a House Judiciary Committee field hearing held in Charlotte — a city reeling from its own recent tragedy involving a repeat offender.
“I will fight until my last breath for my daughter,” Federico told lawmakers. “You need to fight for the rest of our children, the rest of the innocents, and stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us, please.”
A Preventable Crime
Logan Federico was visiting friends at the University of South Carolina when Alexander Dickey, a man with over three dozen criminal charges, broke into the home, robbed her, and shot her in the chest. According to Stephen Federico, Dickey had been arrested at least 39 times, including for multiple first-degree burglaries, but was allowed to plead to lesser charges and was classified as a first-time offender in 2023 due to incomplete fingerprint records.
“When they saw his face on the video, they didn’t have to do a check,” Federico said. “He was arrested so many times they knew who he was.”
After the shooting, Dickey reportedly used Logan’s debit card and others he had stolen before being arrested the next day.
National Spotlight on Local Tragedies
The hearing, held in Charlotte’s urban center, was scheduled in the wake of another violent crime that shocked the region — the murder of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed aboard a city light rail train last month. Her accused killer, Decarlos Brown Jr., had a 10-year criminal history and was out on the streets despite being diagnosed with schizophrenia and awaiting a mental competency evaluation.
Rep. Mark Harris (R-N.C.), who represents part of Charlotte, said both incidents highlight the urgent need for judicial reform.
“Sadly, it’s all too common for a criminal to be let off easy by a judge only to have him turn around and commit an even worse crime,” Harris said.
“Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied”
Federico was joined by Mia Alderman, whose granddaughter Mary Collins, 20, was brutally murdered in 2020. Her body was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a mattress, bearing more than 100 stab wounds. Years later, prosecutions remain ongoing, and Alderman said one of the four suspects — America Diehl — has repeatedly violated her release conditions.
“Five years is not justice. Five years is torment,” Alderman told the committee. “Justice delayed is justice denied, and time is stealing our justice with the backlogged court system for murder trials. Mary is not the only victim. … The same system that failed Mary failed Iryna.”
Both families are calling on lawmakers to overhaul what they see as a broken system that favors leniency over safety — a system, they say, that prioritizes second chances for violent offenders over the lives of innocent victims.
Broader Implications
The hearing marks a shift in congressional attention to rising concerns over violent crime and repeat offender leniency, particularly in states where prosecutorial discretion and court backlogs have allowed dangerous individuals to return to the streets. Lawmakers are reportedly considering a package of federal incentives to encourage state-level reforms, including better tracking of repeat offenders, mandatory minimums for violent crimes, and improved mental health evaluation procedures.
For Stephen Federico, the issue is deeply personal — and painfully urgent.
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