‘I’m not going anywhere:’ Logan Federico’s father vows fight for judicial reform
- SCCLR Newsletter
- Nov 15
- 4 min read
By: Javon L. Harris
The father of Logan Federico has teamed up with South Carolina lawmakers, solicitors and the attorney general in an ongoing bid to shake up how judges are elected in the state.
Stephen Federico took the stage Saturday with several state officials as he vowed to fight for judicial reform in South Carolina while tearfully recounting the murder of his daughter, Logan Federico.
“Logan Hale Federico, a 22-year-old, beautiful, blonde, bombshell Southern belle that loved life, that enjoyed life, figured out that she was going to be a teacher, and she was going to make a difference in kids’ lives,” Federico said. “We don’t have that opportunity anymore because it was stolen by judges part of a broken (judicial) system.”
Mishap of justice in Federico killing
Federico pointed to judges who failed to protect his daughter by continually releasing her alleged killer, Alexander Dickey, who was a habitual offender.
Dickey “was arrested 39 times with 25 felonies, but was yet allowed to roam the streets of your county,” Federico said. “In Lexington and Richland County, you have to ask yourself, how does somebody like that slip through the system?”
An exchange between Norman and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, where Norman insinuated that SLED was responsible for Alexander Dickey having the opportunity to kill Federico during a home burglary in May, Keel pointed to an error by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
The mishap, according to Keel, involved the department failing to re-enter Dickey’s fingerprints after he was served with additional criminal charges while still incarcerated at the Lexington County Detention Center.
In a statement to The State last month, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the detention center, said it was “unable to determine if (Dickey’s) prints were taken at the time of those additional in-custody bookings in 2014.”
The statement failed to account for the department’s oversight, adding, “it’s possible the lack of prints associated with those bookings were the result of human or machine error.”
“There’s going to be another Logan Federico,” Federico said. “My goal will be to make that happen, less. I feel like there are people in this community that I have on my shoulders now (and) across the United States that I want to carry to the finish line, to see justice for everyone, so they don’t have to do what we have to do and speak to crowds ... and the press.”
Federico was joined by state Rep. Joe White, R-Newberry, Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson, 1st and 8th Circuit Solicitors David Pascoe and David Stumbo — who both are vying for Wilson’s seat. U.S. Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Ralph Norman was also on stage.
All officials have rallied behind a bill — H. 4516 — that would change how members of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission are selected.
A grapple over the Judicial Merit Selection Commission
The Judicial Merit Selection Commission is a 12-member body charged under the state’s constitution with vetting and selecting judicial candidates who are eligible for election by the General Assembly.
Critics of the current system used to elect judges have long argued that lawyer-legislators on the commission systematically leverage their positions to wield undue influence over state judges, skewing the state’s courts in favor of those who can make or break a judge’s career.
“Our General Assembly has the power to write the laws, and ... the power to elect the judges to interpret those laws,” White said. “It has the power to punish those judges when they don’t rule the way the General Assembly desires, and the power to determine salaries for those judges.”
Historically, members of the commission were selected exclusively by the legislature and often included multiple lawyer-legislators. Last year, however, a bill — S. 1046 — modified the selection process by increasing the number of members from 10 to 12 and by, for the first time, giving the governor a say in who serves on the panel.
Now, four members of the commission are selected by the state speaker of the House, two members by the president of the Senate, two members by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and four members by the governor. Of the House and Senate appointees, two must be a member of the state bar with at least 10 years of experience. The same applies for all four gubernatorial appointees.
Although White, the sponsor of H. 4516, acknowledged that S. 1046 marked progress toward judicial reform, he said there’s much more to be done.
“What we’re talking about ... is the abuse of power, about justice (and) about having three separate but equal branches of government,” White said. “We have, in our General Assembly, an over representation of (lawyers) by 120 times their fair share. To me, that is not representative government.”
Under White’s bill, the commission would be reduced back to 10, all appointed by the governor. Additionally, lawyer-legislators would be ineligible to serve as well as anyone who contributed to the governor’s last campaign.
