In emotionally charged testimony Monday, Steve Federico, father of 22-year-old Logan Federico, recounted how his daughter was fatally shot during a home invasion by Alexander Dickey, a black criminal with 39 prior arrests and 25 felonies. The hearing, held by the House Judiciary Committee in Charlotte, North Carolina, focused on violent crime and pretrial release policies.

Federico described the brutal execution-style murder of his daughter, who was visiting friends in Columbia, South Carolina, when Dickey broke into the home. “She was five foot three, 115 pounds… BANG! … dead,” he said, detailing how Dickey forced her to her knees before killing her. Federico criticized the judicial system for allowing Dickey, who had committed 2.6 crimes annually since age 16, to remain free despite his criminal history. “He should have been in jail for over 140 years,” Federico stated, noting Dickey served only 600 days in ten years.

The grieving father also criticized South Carolina’s Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Solicitor Byron Gipson, a Democrat, for failing to communicate with him after the murder. Gipson, a former defense attorney, has faced scrutiny for his “soft-on-crime” approach, including a controversial Fox News interview. Federico accused lawmakers of prioritizing political optics over justice, saying, “You woke up a beast and you pissed off the wrong daddy.”

The hearing also highlighted confusion during an earlier exchange when Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) mistakenly referenced Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, another victim of violent crime. Federico demanded stronger measures to protect communities from repeat offenders, vowing to fight “until my last breath” for his daughter’s memory. “You will not forget her!” he declared.