Despite all those arrests, suspect Alexander Devante Dickey, 30, has spent barely 600 days behind bars in the past decade, according to news reports.
On May 3, Federico was found dead at a home in Columbia, where she was visiting friends in the area. Dickey is accused of breaking into the home and killing her with a gunshot wound to the chest. He later fled the scene in a stolen vehicle and used stolen credit cards to make purchases, according to police.
The murder case has garnered national attention after the explosive testimony by Logan’s grieving father Steve Federico in a hearing this week by the House Judiciary Congressional hearing looking into U.S. soft-on-crime policies.
During the hearing, the father complained he hadn’t heard “one word” from Byron Gipson, South Carolina’s Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Solicitor, the local prosecutor in the case.
Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter dated September 30 to Gipson asking him to pursue capital punishment against Logan’s accused killer.
In it, Wilson argued the case carries “clear statutory aggravating factors” including Dickey’s long criminal record and the murder occurring during the commission of a felony.
The attorney general also issued an ultimatum.
“If you or your staff feel unable to proceed forward with this decision, please understand that this Office stands ready to assume that responsibility after appropriate review of the evidence,” he wrote.
Following Steve Federico’s testimony, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) called for the local prosecutor’s impeachment.
Gipson, a former 21-year veteran defense attorney, was elected as a Democrat to the office in 2018. The National Police Association, a law enforcement advocacy group, has accused Gipson of being not “much of a prosecutor” for not putting felons in jail by seeking stiff bail for suspects.
The attorney general gave Gipson until Oct. 10 to declare his decision on a death penalty.
Gipson fired back in an October 1 letter in response, calling Wilson’s deadline “reckless, irresponsible, and unethical” for him to make a decision without having “conducted a comprehensive review of all evidence in the case.”
“To make such a determination a mere four months into the case, without investing the due diligence necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of all facets of the evidence, would set a dangerous precedent,” Gipson wrote.
AG Wilson also announced he has assigned senior attorney Melody Brown in the Attorney General’s Capital & Collateral Litigation Section to conduct a comprehensive review of the case, Fox News reported.
“Melody Brown is one of the most seasoned attorneys in our office, with extensive experience in cases warranting the death penalty,” the cable news outlet quoted Wilson as saying. “She will be reviewing the details of this case to ensure that every step forward is handled with the utmost precision and the highest standards of justice.”
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” Federico, Logan’s dad, told Fox News Digital about the attorney general pushing for the death penalty against Dickey. “Alan Wilson is willing to do the right thing and what is justice for Logan.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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